Exam 8: Pathophysiology

A patient has failure of the left side of his heart. Consequently, the blood is backing up into the pulmonary artery and spilling out into the lung tissue, causing him to be short of breath and moderately hypoxic. The EMT should recognize this condition as a product of:

Assessment of a hypoxic patient with a history of lung disease reveals him to be using well-developed accessory muscles to exhale. As an EMT, you should recognize that the patient:

A young patient is experiencing epiglottitis (swelling of the epiglottis). He is working hard to breathe, has stridorous respirations, and is extremely hypoxic. His skin is cyanotic and pulse rapid but strong. Which of the following is most likely causing the poor delivery of oxygen to the cells?

On scene, a 43-year-old male states that he has a history of liver failure and does not produce enough of the protein albumin. Given this condition, which one of the following would you expect?

A patient with a high fever has an accelerated metabolism and is producing abnormally high amounts of carbon dioxide at the cellular level. To compensate, which one of the following will occur?

A patient with liver disease suffers from a low platelet count. Which of the following would the EMT directly correlate to this condition?

What is the protective mechanism underlying a narrowed pulse pressure?

Which of the following medical conditions would impair a patient's respiratory status by directly damaging the central chemoreceptors?

Under normal circumstances, carbon dioxide is excreted from the body through the:

Which of the following is required for normal perfusion to occur?

The body will compensate for a decrease in cardiac output by:

Which one of the following would most likely cause a patient to have a simple episode of syncope (fainting)?

Which of the following statements would be true of a patient who relies on the hypoxic drive to breathe?

A patient's SpO₂ increased from 89% to 95% after he received a bronchodilating drug for his asthma. Where did the patient's problem most likely originate?

Which of the following best describes the ventilation/perfusion ratio?

A 20-year-old female has called 911 for chest pain. On scene you find that she has shallow breathing with an SpO₂ reading of 91% on room air. She states she was in a car crash yesterday and diagnosed in the hospital with broken ribs. She says that her pain is right where the ribs are broken and rates it a 10/10. Breath sounds are present bilaterally. In this situation, the EMT should attribute the hypoxia to which one of the following?

The EMT would most likely see a narrowed pulse pressure in a patient who:

Which one of the following best describes the concept of afterload?

The patient in anaerobic metabolism is deficient of:

A patient's lungs are full of fluid and cannot transfer oxygen to the blood. As a result, she is in anaerobic metabolism. She has a decreased level of consciousness with a patent upper airway and inadequate respirations. Her pulse is rapid and weak. Which one of the following prehospital treatments would best address this situation?