You are called for a patient with difficulty breathing. You…
You are called for a patient with difficulty breathing. You find the patient, a 76-year-old woman, lying in bed. She presents with respiratory distress that has worsened progressively over the past 2 days. She is tacypneic, breathing through pursed lips, has a prolonged expiratory phase, and an oxygen saturation of 76%. She is on home oxygen at 2 L/min. The paramedics initial action should be to: