NCLEX® Respiratory
Practice Questions
Try NCLEX Respiratory Practice Questions
Test your respiratory knowledge with this nursing respiratory quiz. To experience UWorld’s official questions, with clinical scenarios, detailed visual rationales, and explanations for every answer choice, see our full library of free NCLEX® practice questions.
Priority question - Chest Tube
The nurse is assessing a client who has a chest tube attached to a closed-chest drainage system.
Which of the following findings would be a priority to follow up?
| 1. serous drainage in the collection chamber | |
| 2. crepitus around the insertion site | |
| 3. intermittent bubbling in the water-seal chamber | |
| 4. clamped drainage tubing |
Intervene question - Pneumonia
The nurse is assessing a client who has bacterial pneumonia.
Which of the following findings would be a priority to follow up?
| 1. headache and fever | |
| 2. sore throat and nasal congestion | |
| 3. use of accessory muscles | |
| 4. purulent sputum |
Plan of care question - COPD
The nurse is planning care for a client with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
Which of the following interventions should the nurse include in the client's plan of care? Select all that apply.
| 1. Recommend that the client sleep in the supine position. | |
| 2. Tell the client to eat 2 to 3 large meals each day. | |
| 3. Encourage the client to receive the influenza vaccine annually. | |
| 4. Demonstrate the huff-cough technique for the client. | |
| 5. Instruct the client to limit physical activity. |
Manifestations question - Cystic fibrosis
The nurse has attended a staff education program about cystic fibrosis.
Which of the following should the nurse recognize as a complication of cystic fibrosis? Select all that apply.
| 1. malnutrition | |
| 2. osteoporosis | |
| 3. uterine fibroids | |
| 4. diabetes mellitus | |
| 5. portal hypertension |
Teaching question - Asthma
The nurse has taught a client with newly diagnosed asthma.
Which of the following statements by the client would require follow-up? Select all that apply.
| 1. “I should take ibuprofen if I experience a headache.” | |
| 2. “I will measure my peak expiratory flow rate daily.” | |
| 3. “I should avoid exercising to decrease my symptoms.” | |
| 4. “I will wash my bedsheets in warm water weekly.” | |
| 5. “I should avoid taking inhaled corticosteroids during an acute exacerbation.” |
Priority question - Asthma attack- Calee
The nurse is assessing a client who is experiencing an acute exacerbation of asthma.
Which of the following findings would require immediate follow-up?
| 1. abrupt discontinuation of wheezing | |
| 2. use of accessory muscles | |
| 3. nonproductive cough | |
| 4. difficulty speaking |
Intervene question - Hyperoxygenation of COPD client (Valerie)
The nurse is observing a staff member caring for a client with COPD.
The nurse should intervene if the staff member is observed
| 1. demonstrating pursed-lip breathing for the client | |
| 2. providing the client with information about smoking cessation | |
| 3. administering albuterol to the client before meals | |
| 4. hyperoxygenating the client before assisting the client to ambulate |
Plan of care question - Chest tube (Andrew)
The nurse is caring for a client who has a chest tube attached to a closed-chest drainage system.
Which of the following actions should the nurse take? Select all that apply.
| 1. Avoid stripping or milking the client’s chest tube. | |
| 2. Clamp the chest tube while the client is ambulating. | |
| 3. Withhold analgesics to prevent respiratory depression. | |
| 4. Monitor the insertion site for subcutaneous emphysema. | |
| 5. Instruct the client to avoid coughing and deep breathing. |
Medication/Risk factor/Manifestation question - (Megan)
The nurse is caring for a client who is experiencing an acute exacerbation of asthma.
The nurse should prepare to administer
| 1. albuterol | |
| 2. salmeterol | |
| 3. fluticasone | |
| 4. montelukast |
Teaching question - Pediatric inhaler teaching with spacer (Holly B.)
The nurse has taught the parent of a 6-year-old client with asthma who has a new prescription for an albuterol metered dose inhaler (MDI).
Which of the following statements by the parent would indicate a correct understanding of the teaching? Select all that apply.
| 1. “I should wait 30 seconds before administering a second puff of medication to my child.” | |
| 2. “My child should hold the breath for 5 to 10 seconds after each puff of medication.” | |
| 3. “My child should inhale quickly after each puff to fully take in the medication.” | |
| 4. “A spacer will help my child effectively receive the medication.” | |
| 5. “I should shake the MDI before attaching it to a spacer.” |
Watch Expert NCLEX Respiratory Question Breakdowns
Watch our expert nursing educators break down high-yield respiratory NCLEX questions step by step. Learn how to identify priority findings, recognize respiratory emergencies, and approach challenging exam scenarios.
What Finding Indicates a Priority Intervention in Bacterial Pneumonia?
Which Interventions Should Be Included in COPD Care Plans? (SATA)
Which Complications Are Associated with Cystic Fibrosis? (SATA)
Where Should a Chest Tube Collection Chamber Be Positioned?
Why Is Abrupt Discontinuation of Wheezing a Life-Threatening Sign in Asthma?
How to Answer NCLEX Respiratory Questions
Respiratory questions often hinge on recognizing subtle changes before they become serious problems. Learn how to identify key findings, prioritize care, and work through respiratory scenarios with a clear strategy.
Join the 98% Who Pass the First Time With UWorld*
here.
Master High-Yield Respiratory Topics
Focus on these high-yield topics to concentrate your efforts where respiratory questions appear most often. These are the respiratory concepts that appear most often in patient care scenarios, prioritization questions, and NGN case studies.
Ventilation & Oxygenation
Oxygen delivery, gas exchange, pulse oximetry, and impaired ventilation form the foundation of respiratory nursing care.
Mechanical Ventilation
Ventilator management, patient monitoring, and complication recognition are common components of advanced respiratory care.
Airway Clearance & Suctioning
Airway patency, secretion management, and suctioning procedures are central to maintaining respiratory function.
Pulmonary Hygiene
Incentive spirometry, coughing techniques, and chest physiotherapy support lung expansion and secretion clearance.
Chest Tubes & Drainage Systems
Chest tube function, drainage assessment, and system maintenance are frequently tested respiratory concepts.
Invasive Respiratory Procedures
Thoracentesis and bronchoscopy introduce concepts related to procedural preparation, monitoring, and recovery.
Tracheal Care
Tracheostomy management includes airway maintenance, stoma care, suctioning, and patient education.
Respiratory Infections & Diseases
Tuberculosis, COPD, pneumonia, and other pulmonary disorders are frequently used to test patient monitoring and safe respiratory care.
Pulmonary Hemodynamics
Pulmonary circulation, perfusion, and hemodynamic monitoring connect respiratory function with cardiovascular status.
Multidisciplinary Collaboration
Respiratory care often involves coordination among nurses, respiratory therapists, and other healthcare professionals.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Who writes UWorld’s respiratory NCLEX questions?
Every UWorld question is crafted through a rigorous, multi-step authoring process. A dedicated team of over 40+ practicing nurses and nurse educators writes, reviews, and continuously updates each item to ensure it meets strict NCSBN standards and matches the difficulty of the actual exam.
Our clinical team also works alongside professional designers with advanced degrees to create the medical illustrations and visuals that accompany each explanation. The result is a question bank (QBank) that doesn’t just test you, it teaches you the clinical reasoning behind every answer.
How much is respiratory content tested on the NCLEX?
Respiratory content is heavily tested on the NCLEX and is commonly assessed through the Physiological Adaptation category, which accounts for approximately 11-17% of the exam. However, respiratory concepts are not assigned their own standalone percentage on the NCLEX test plan. Instead, they are integrated throughout patient care scenarios involving oxygenation, gas exchange, airway management, respiratory assessment, and emergency interventions.
In practice, you’ll encounter respiratory topics across conditions such as asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), pneumonia, pulmonary embolism, tuberculosis, pneumothorax, and oxygen therapy, often within broader clinical judgment and NCLEX-style case-study questions.
What respiratory topics are most important for the NCLEX?
Focus on breath sounds, work of breathing, oxygen saturation, arterial blood gases (ABGs), airway emergencies, and the high-yield conditions that appear repeatedly on nursing exams. These include asthma, COPD, pneumonia, tuberculosis, pulmonary embolism, pneumothorax, pulmonary edema, and Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS).
What is the best way to study respiratory topics for the NCLEX?
The most effective approach is to study respiratory content through pattern recognition rather than memorizing isolated facts. Learn what abnormal breath sounds mean, how to interpret ABGs, how to distinguish oxygenation from ventilation problems, and what interventions take priority when a patient’s condition worsens.
What makes UWorld’s respiratory questions different from other QBanks?
Three things:
- Every question comes with an in-depth explanation that covers every answer choice, correct and incorrect, so you understand the reasoning, not just the answer.
- Our questions are written to match the difficulty and clinical judgment demands of the actual NCLEX, not simplified recall questions.
- Our explanations include professionally designed medical illustrations that visualize respiratory concepts like airflow, gas exchange, oxygenation, and disease processes, which is the kind of context that helps respiratory questions make sense instead of feeling like memorized symptoms.
How many respiratory questions does UWorld’s QBank include?
UWorld’s NCLEX QBank includes hundreds of respiratory questions spanning major respiratory disorders, ABG interpretation, oxygenation, respiratory assessment, medications, and nursing interventions. You can also filter respiratory content when creating custom practice tests.
Does UWorld cover NCLEX-style question types for respiratory topics?
Yes. Our QBank includes every item type: Unfolding Case Studies, Bow-tie, Matrix, Extended SATA, Drag-and-Drop, Drop-Down, Highlight, and Trend questions across all subjects, including respiratory nursing. You’ll practice the exact question formats you’ll face on exam day, with the same partial-credit scoring the real NCLEX uses.
How does partial credit work on NCLEX respiratory questions?
The NCLEX uses a plus/minus (+/−) scoring model for Select All That Apply (SATA) and other scored item types. You earn points for correct selections and lose points for incorrect ones. The lowest possible score on any individual item is zero, you cannot receive a negative score
How do I interpret ABGs on the NCLEX?
Start by identifying whether the pH is normal, acidic, or alkalotic. Then look at the PaCO2 to determine whether the problem is respiratory. A low pH with a high PaCO2 indicates respiratory acidosis, while a high pH with a low PaCO2 indicates respiratory alkalosis.
Rather than memorizing dozens of ABG combinations, focus on recognizing the common patterns the NCLEX tests.
Can I use UWorld to focus specifically on respiratory topics?
Yes. UWorld lets you create unlimited custom practice tests filtered by subject, body system, question status, and difficulty level. Select “Respiratory” to generate a practice test made entirely of respiratory-related questions, or combine it with a specific system filter (e.g., Adult Health + Respiratory) to drill into the exact intersection you need.
Does UWorld offer a free trial for NCLEX respiratory practice?
Yes. UWorld offers a 7-day free trial that includes 50 exam-style NCLEX practice questions with full in-depth explanations and access to review videos, no credit card required. It’s the fastest way to experience how UWorld teaches this topic differently.
*98% of UWorld NCLEX-RN Review users who completed at least 75% of the QBank passed the NCLEX-RN the first time.