Assessment of Respiratory Function

A thoracentesis is performed to obtain a sample of pleural fluid or a biopsy specimen from the pleural wall for diagnostic purposes. What does serous fluid indicate?

Cancer

A client arrives in the emergency department reporting shortness of breath. She has 3+ pitting edema below the knees, a respiratory rate of 36 breaths per minute, and heaving respirations. The nurse auscultates the client's lungs to reveal coarse, moist, high-pitched, and non-continuous sounds that do not clear with coughing. The nurse will document these sounds as which type?

Crackles

The nurse is assessing a patient in respiratory failure. What finding is a late indicator of hypoxia?

Cyanosis

A client is seen in the emergency room for a case of diabetic acidosis with the presence of Kussmaul respirations. What client condition is associated with the presence of Kussmaul respirations?

Hyperventilation

Which of the following disease processes cause increased compliance?

Emphysema

A client with sinus congestion complains of discomfort when the nurse is palpating the supraorbital ridges. What sinus is the client referring?

Frontal

The nurse is caring for a critically ill client in the ICU. The nurse documents the client's respiratory rate as bradypnea. The nurse recognizes that bradypnea is associated with which condition?

Increased intracranial pressure

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

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

The nurse is reviewing the blood gas results for a patient with pneumonia. What arterial blood gas measurement best reflects the adequacy of alveolar ventilation?

PaCO2

A young adult visited a clinic because he was injured during a softball game. He told the nurse that the ball struck him in his "Adam's apple." To assess the initial impact of injury, the nurse:

Palpates the thyroid cartilage.

During a preadmission assessment, the nurse finds increased tactile fremitus. She knows this sign is consistent with which of the following diagnoses?

Pneumonia

A patient exhibited signs of an altered ventilation-perfusion ratio. The nurse is aware that adequate ventilation but impaired perfusion exists when the patient has which of the following conditions?

Pulmonary embolism

A client with chronic bronchitis is admitted to the health facility. Auscultation of the lungs reveals low-pitched, rumbling sounds. Which term should the nurse document?

Rhonchi

The nurse is studying for a physiology test over the respiratory system. What should the nurse know about central chemoreceptors in the medulla?

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

What is the difference between respiration and ventilation?

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

The nurse documents breath sounds that are soft, with inspiratory sounds longer than expiratory and found over the periphery of the lungs. Which of the following will the nurse chart?

Vesicular

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 caring for a client who is to undergo a thoracentesis. In preparation for the procedure, the nurse places the client in which position?

Sitting on the edge of the bed

An client is described as having pectus carinatum. What would be the physical manifestation of this condition?

The sternum protrudes and the ribs are sloped backward.