Exam 20: Heart and Neck Vessels

When the nurse is auscultating the carotid artery for bruits, which of these statements reflects the correct technique?

In assessing a patient's major risk factors for heart disease, which would the nurse want to include when taking a history?

The findings from an assessment of a 70-year-old patient with swelling in his ankles include jugular venous pulsations 5 cm above the sternal angle when the head of his bed is elevated 45 degrees.The nurse knows that this finding indicates:

While auscultating heart sounds on a 7-year-old child for a routine physical examination, the nurse hears S₃, a soft murmur at the left midsternal border, and a venous hum when the child is standing.What would be a correct interpretation of these findings?

The nurse is assessing a patient's pulses and notices a difference between the patient's apical pulse and radial pulse.The apical pulse is 118 beats per minute, and the radial pulse is 105 beats per minute.What is the pulse deficit?

A 30-year-old woman with a history of mitral valve problems states that she has been "very tired." She has started waking up at night and feels like her "heart is pounding." During the assessment, the nurse palpates a thrill and forceful pushing of the ventricle at the fifth left intercostal space MCL.In the same area, the nurse also auscultates a blowing, swishing sound right after S₁.These findings would be most consistent with:

The direction of blood flow through the heart is best described by which of these?

Before administering certain cardiovascular medications, the nurse needs to check the rate of the apical impulse at the:

The nurse is assessing the apical pulse of a 3-month-old infant and finds that the heart rate is 135 beats per minute.The nurse interprets this result as:

During an inspection of the precordium of an adult patient, the nurse notices the chest moving in a forceful manner along the sternal border.This finding most likely suggests:

The nurse knows that normal splitting of S₂ is associated with:

A 45-year-old man is in the clinic for a routine physical examination.During the recording of his health history, the patient states that he has been having difficulty sleeping."I'll be sleeping great, and then I wake up and feel like I can't get my breath." The nurse's best response to this would be:

The nurse is preparing to auscultate for heart sounds.Which technique is correct?

During the precordial assessment on a patient who is 8 months pregnant, the nurse palpates the apical impulse at the fourth left intercostal space lateral to the MCL.This finding would indicate:

A 25-year-old woman in her fifth month of pregnancy has a blood pressure of 100/70 mm Hg.In reviewing her previous examination findings, the nurse notes that her blood pressure in her second month was 124/80 mm Hg.In evaluating this change, what does the nurse know to be true?

During the cardiac auscultation, the nurse hears a sound immediately occurring after S₂ at the second left intercostal space.To further assess this sound, what should the nurse do?

During a cardiovascular assessment, the nurse knows that a thrill is:

During an assessment, the nurse notes that the patient's apical impulse is laterally displaced and is palpable over a wide area.This finding indicates:

When listening to heart sounds, the nurse knows that S₁:

During an assessment of a 68-year-old man with a recent onset of right-sided weakness, the nurse hears a blowing, swishing sound with the bell of the stethoscope over the left carotid artery.This finding would indicate: