🩺 Nursing Question of the Day

Challenge yourself with one exam-style nursing question every day.

✅ Think carefully • ✅ Choose your answer • ✅ Then scroll down to check the explanation.

🫁 Guillain-Barré Syndrome — Priority Assessment

✅ Answer: (C) Respiratory function

📖 What is Guillain-Barré Syndrome?

Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS) is an acute immune-mediated disorder in which the peripheral nerves are affected, commonly producing progressive, symmetrical muscle weakness.

Guillain and Barré = Named after the neurologists Georges Guillain and Jean Alexandre Barré, who described the syndrome.
Syndrome = A group of signs and symptoms occurring together.

🩺 Why is Option C Correct?

The most serious complication of GBS is respiratory muscle weakness.

As the weakness progresses, the muscles required for breathing can become impaired. This can lead to:

• 🫁 Decreased vital capacity
• 🫁 Weak cough
• 🫁 Difficulty clearing secretions
• 🫁 Hypoventilation
• 🚨 Respiratory failure

👉 Therefore, respiratory function must receive the highest priority.

📖 What Should the Nurse Assess?

The nurse should closely monitor respiratory status, including:

• Respiratory rate and pattern
• Oxygen saturation
• Ability to cough and clear secretions
• Breath sounds
• Vital capacity and other respiratory measurements, when indicated

A patient can deteriorate quickly, so respiratory assessment is a priority even before severe respiratory symptoms become obvious.

❌ Why Are the Other Options Less Priority?

A. Deep Tendon Reflexes
❌ Reduced or absent reflexes are characteristic of GBS and are important for neurological assessment, but respiratory compromise is the more immediate life-threatening concern.

B. Bowel Sounds
❌ Bowel function may need monitoring, particularly because of immobility or autonomic dysfunction, but it is not the highest immediate priority.

C. Respiratory Function
✅ Correct. Progressive weakness can involve the respiratory muscles and cause potentially fatal respiratory failure.

D. Peripheral Edema
❌ Edema is not the defining acute threat in GBS and is lower priority than respiratory assessment.

📝 Priority in GBS

📌 Exam Tip: In Guillain-Barré syndrome, always think “Can the patient breathe?” Respiratory muscle weakness is a potentially life-threatening complication, making respiratory assessment the priority.