Which practice helps prevent atelectasis in immobile patients?

• A. Incentive spirometry
• B. Bed rest
• C. Caffeine consumption
• D. Low-fluid intake

Answer: (A)

Encouraging full, slow breaths with incentive spirometry promotes lung expansion and keeps airways open, which helps prevent atelectasis in patients who are immobile. When movement is limited, breathing tends to be shallow, allowing small airways to collapse and secretions to pool. The incentive spirometer provides a visual cue and guides the patient to inhale deeply enough to raise the device’s indicator, reinforcing a larger tidal volume. Regular use, often hourly while awake, helps recruit collapsed alveoli, improves ventilation, and facilitates secretion clearance, reducing the risk of lung areas deflating and developing atelectasis and related infections. Bed rest alone does not actively improve lung inflation; caffeine has no protective effect on atelectasis; and low-fluid intake can thicken secretions and impair clearance, making atelectasis more likely.