Respiratory tests study guide

The nurse is instructing the client on the normal sensations, which can occur when contrast medium is infused during pulmonary angiography. Which statement, made by the client, demonstrates an understanding?

"I will feel warm and an urge to cough."

The nurse is caring for a client who states, "I am really worried about the thoracentesis. I know I won't be able to sleep tonight." Which statement is most helpful to the client at this time?

"Tell me what you are worried about."

You are an occupational health nurse who is presenting a workshop on laryngeal cancer. What risk factors would you be sure to include in your workshop?

-Alcohol -Tobacco -Industrial pollutants

The nurse is caring for a client with a new tracheostomy. What two nursing diagnoses are priorities?

-Ineffective Airway Clearance related to increased secretions -Impaired Gas Exchange related to shallow breathing and anxiousness

The nurse is caring for a geriatric client brought to the emergency department after she complains of feeling poorly with an elevated temperature x 1 day. Laboratory tests confirm influenza type A, a respiratory virus. Which medical treatment would the nurse anticipate in the discharge instructions?

-Rest -Increased fluids -Antivirals

You are caring for a client who is in respiratory distress. The physician orders arterial blood gases (ABGs) to determine various factors related to oxygenation. What site can ABGs be obtained from?

A puncture at the radial artery

The nurse is caring for a client who has recurrent sinusitis. Which consideration could the nurse suggest to best decrease the frequency of infections?

Administer an over-the-counter decongestant

The nurse is caring for a client in the intensive care unit immediately after removal of the endotracheal tube. Which of the following nursing actions is most important to complete every hour to ensure that the respiratory system is not compromised?

Auscultate lung sounds

The nurse is caring for an adolescent client injured in a snowboarding accident. The client has a head injury, a fractured right rib, and various abrasions and contusions. The client has a blood pressure of 142/88 mm Hg, pulse of 102 bpm, and respirations of 26 breaths/minute. Which laboratory test provides data on a potential impairment in ventilation?

Blood gases

The hydrogen ion (H+) directly effects

Blood pH

If the patients pH is normal, and paCO2 and HCO3- are both abnormal, the acid/base imbalance is

Compensated

A client arrives at the physician's office stating dyspnea; a productive cough for thick, green sputum; respirations of 28 breaths/minute, and a temperature of 102.8F. The nurse auscultates the lung fields, which reveal poor air exchange in the right middle lobe. The nurse suspects a right middle lobe pneumonia. To be consistent with this anticipated diagnosis, which sound, heard over the chest wall when percussing, is anticipated?

Dull

You are caring for a client who is status post nasal polypectomy. What would you instruct this client to report?

Excessive swallowing

A nurse is obtaining a health history from a client who reports hemoptysis for the past 2 months. The client reports occasional dyspnea. Which imaging study, ordered by the physician, will view the thoracic cavity while in motion?

Fluoroscopy

A nurse is caring for a client following nasal surgery. Which assessment finding best indicates current bleeding?

Frequent swallowing

The nursing instructor is talking with senior nursing students about diagnostic procedures used in respiratory diseases. The instructor discusses thoracentesis, defining it as a procedure performed for diagnostic purposes or to aspirate accumulated excess fluid or air from the pleural space. What would the instructor tell the students purulent fluid indicates?

Infection

You are a nurse in the radiology unit of your hospital. You are caring for a client who is scheduled for a lung scan. You know that lung scans need the use of radioisotopes and a scanning machine. Before the perfusion scan, what must the client be assessed for?

Iodine allergy

What happens to the diaphragm during inspiration?

It contracts and flattens

The nurse is caring for a client in the immediate post-thoracentesis period. In which position is the client placed?

Lying on the unaffected side

Renal failure, shock, starvation, and dehydration are all medical diagnoses associated with which acid/base imbalance?

Metabolic Acidosis

Prolonged use of NG suctioning, vomiting, and diuretics leave the acutely ill patient at risk for what?

Metabolic Alkalosis

You are caring for a client diagnosed with enlarged adenoids. What condition is produced by enlarged adenoids?

Noisy breathing

The student nurse is learning breath sounds while listening to a client in the physician's office. An experienced nurse is assisting and notes air movement over the trachea to the upper lungs. The air movement is noted equally on inspiration as expiration. Which breath sounds would the nurse document?

Normal bronchovesicular sounds

If the patients pH is abnormal, and PaCo2 and HCO3- are both abnormal, then the acid/base imbalance is

Partially compensated

A patient asks the nurse about how air goes from the nose to the lungs. The nurse draws the route according to which sequence?

Pharynx, trachea, bronchi, alveoli

A graduate practical nurse is caring for a client who has a tracheostomy tube. A seasoned nurse is assisting in providing guidance for completing tracheostomy care. When changing the ties, the client moves and dislodges the tube. What does the seasoned nurse do first?

Place a dilator in the stoma to maintain the opening

The nurse is caring for a client whose respiratory status has declined since shift report. The client has tachypnea, is restless, and displays cyanosis. Which diagnostic test should be assessed first?

Pulse oximetry

The nurse is analyzing a client's blood pH of 7.1. Which symptom would indicate that a patient's body is working to stabilize?

Respirations are increasing

Which disease process is characterized by an increased loss of CO2 through the respiratory system, most commonly secondary to hyperventilation?

Respiratory Alkalosis

Your client has just had an invasive procedure to assess the respiratory system. What do you know should be assessed on this client?

Respiratory distress

The nurse is caring for a client with an upper respiratory disorder. The client states that he has a hacky, nonproductive cough, which wakes him in the night. Which OTC medication would the nurse suggest to diminish the cough during the night?

Robitussin

A client comes to the emergency department in respiratory compromise. The client's temperature is 102.4F, HR 88 bpm and regular, and BP is 138/76 mm Hg. The client is dyspneic, pale, and expectorating green-tinged sputum. The physician orders medications including antibiotics, antipyretics, nebulizer treatments, and IV fluids. A chest x-ray and sputum culture are to be completed. Which physician order would the nurse complete before beginning antibiotic therapy?

Sputum culture

The nurse is caring for a client with an endotracheal tube. Which client data does the nurse interpret as a life-threatening situation?

Sudden restlessness

The nurse receives an order to obtain a sputum sample from a client with hemoptysis. When advising the client of the physician's order, the client states not being able to produce sputum. Which suggestion, offered by the nurse, is helpful in producing the sputum sample?

Take deep breaths and cough forcefully.

A client arrives at the physician's office stating 2 days of febrile illness, dyspnea, and cough. Upon assisting the client into a gown, the nurse notes that the clients sternum is depressed, especially on inspiration. Crackles are noted in the bases of the lung fields. Based on inspection, which will the nurse document?

The client has a funnel chest.

The nurse initiates the following intervention upon receiving a client back to the clinical unit after a throat related procedure, "elevate the HOB 45 degrees." This assists in meeting which nursing goal?

The client will have decreased edema

The client is returning from the operating room following a bronchoscopy. Which action, performed by a nursing assistant, would the nurse stop if began prior to nursing assessment?

The nursing assistant is pouring a glass of water to wet the client's mouth.

A client experiences a head injury in a motor vehicle accident. The client's level of consciousness is declining, and respirations have become slow and shallow. When monitoring a client's respiratory status, which area of the brain would the nurse realize is responsible for rate and depth?

The pons

You are studying for a physiology test over the respiratory system. What should you know about central chemoreceptors in the medulla?

They respond to changes in CO2 levels and hydrogen ion concentrations (pH) in the cerebrospinal fluid.

A nurse is caring for a client who has frequent upper respiratory infections. Which structure is most helpful in protecting against infection?

Tonsils

A client, experiencing respiratory distress, is ordered blood to be drawn for arterial blood gases (ABGs) via the radial artery. Before the blood is drawn, which circulation is assessed?

Ulnar circulation

If the patients pH is abnormal, and either PaCO2 or HCO3- are abnormal, then the patients acid/base imbalance is

Uncompensated

What is the difference between respiration and ventilation?

Ventilation is the movement of air in and out of the respiratory tract.

The nurse is caring for a client with a decrease in airway diameter causing airway resistance. The client experiences coughing and mucus production. Upon lung assessment, which adventitious breath sounds are anticipated?

Wheezes

The nurse is suctioning a client who is unable to expectorate respiratory secretions. At which point does the nurse expect the client to experience coughing?

When the catheter reaches the point of the carina

The nurse is performing a physical assessment on a client who has a history of a respiratory infection. Which documentation, completed by the nurse, indicates the resolution of the infection?

-Lung fields documented as clear in the bases. -Palpable vibrations over the chest wall when client speaks

The nurse is working on a busy respiratory unit. In caring for a variety of clients, the nurse must be knowledgeable of diagnostic studies. With which diagnostic studies would the nurse screen the client for an allergy to iodine?

-Lung scan -Fluoroscopy -Pulmonary angiography