Patient was instructed on signs and symptoms of bacterial pneumonia as follows:
- Dry cough, which can turn productive later, with the patient coughing up the secretions accumulated in the alveoli of lungs.
- Chest pain from intense coughing to get the secretions out. Inflamed airways also result in chest pain during coughing.
- Shaking chills and fever, as part of infection spectrum.
- Altered breath sounds, such as crepitations due to the secretions accumulated in the alveoli and wheezing due to the inflamed and swollen airways unable to conduct the air.
- Diffuse body aches and malaise with general constitutional symptoms.
- Rapid breathing and rapid heartbeat to compensate for poor oxygen transport.
- Difficulty breathing, secondary to poor gas exchange across the alveoli, due to accumulation of inflammatory secretions in the alveoli.