(652) 1. An emergency department nurse is assessing a client who has sustained a blunt injury to the chest wall. Which of these signs would indicate the presence of a pneumothorax in this client? * Diminished breath sounds
Rationale: This client has sustained a blunt or a closed chest injury. Basic symptoms of a closed pneumothorax are shortness of breath and chest pain. A larger pneumothorax may cause tachypnea, cyanosis, diminished breath sounds, and subcutaneous emphysema. Hyperresonance also may occur on the affected side. A sucking sound at the site of injury would be noted with an open chest injury.
(653) 2. A nurse is caring for a client hospitalized with acute…show more content… A nurse checks the client when the high-pressure alarm on the ventilator sounds, and notes that the client has absence of breath sounds in the right upper lobe of the lung. The nurse immediately assesses for other signs of: * Right pneumothorax * Rationale: Pneumothorax is characterized by restlessness, tachycardia, dyspnea, pain with respiration, asymmetrical chest expansion, and diminished or absent breath sounds on the affected side. Pneumothorax can cause increased airway pressure because of resistance to lung inflation. Acute respiratory distress syndrome and pulmonary embolism are not characterized by absent breath sounds. An endotracheal tube that is inserted too far can cause absent breath sounds, but the lack of breath sounds most likely would be on the left side because of the degree of curvature of the right and left stem bronchi. * * (662) 11. A nurse is assessing a client with multiple trauma who is at risk for developing acute respiratory distress syndrome. The nurse assesses for which earliest sign of acute respiratory distress syndrome? * Increased respiratory rate * Rationale: The earliest detectable sign of acute respiratory distress syndrome is an increased respiratory rate, which can begin from 1 to 96 hours after the initial insult to the body. This is followed by increasing dyspnea, air hunger, retraction of accessory muscles, and cyanosis. Breath
