EMT | Chapter 16 Cardiovascular Emergencies

Which of the following represents the MOST appropriate method of assisting a patient with his or her prescribed nitroglycerin tablet?

Administer the medication sublingually and allow it to dissolve or absorb.

You are treating a 50-year-old woman who has just finished a 10k run. She is complaining of crushing pain in the chest radiating down her left arm and nausea, which came on suddenly. She is sweating profusely. What condition should you suspect?

Angina pectoris

Most often, low blood flow to heart tissue is caused by what?

Atherosclerosis

What is the most effective way to assist a person with CHF to breathe effectively and prevent an invasive airway management technique?

CPAP

________ is calculated by multiplying the heart rate by the volume of blood ejected with each contraction.

Cardiac output

Percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty works by bypassing the coronary artery.

False

The factors involved in the defibrillation include voltage, current, and amperage.

False

You are transporting a patient with angina and he loses consciousness on the way to the hospital. When you check, you cannot feel a pulse. What should you do?

Have your partner pull over the ambulance and come back to help you with CPR and the AED.

You are treating a 63-year-old patient whose vital signs are as follows: pulse, 140 beats/min and irregular; respiratory rate, 28 breaths/min; and blood pressure, 90/50 mm Hg. He is complaining of chest pain. Given this information, why would nitroglycerin be contraindicated?

His blood pressure is too low.

Acute coronary syndrome is a group of symptoms caused by what?

Ischemia

Which of the following symptoms would you see in a patient with a dissecting aneurysm?

Pain does not abate once it has started; Sharp or tearing pain

What is cardiac output?

The amount of blood pumped out of the left ventricle in 1 minute

Cardiac arrest is indicated in the field by the absence of a carotid pulse.

True

The link in the chain of survival that is the most common determinant for survival is the third link—rapid defibrillation.

True

Which dysrhythmia is the most common cause of sudden death in a cardiovascular emergency?

Ventricular fibrillation

You are dispatched to a 60-year-old man reporting chest pain and shortness of breath. The patient has angina and is taking nitroglycerin, furosemide, and atorvastatin. You hear crackles when listening to his breath sounds. The patient's difficulty breathing and crackles are due to blood backing up in which part of the body?

the lungs