Cardiac Nursing Flashcards
7 cards from real MSNCB practice questions. Tap to flip, then mark Knew It or Still Learning — missed cards come back until you master them.
Read the first 7 Cardiac Nursing flashcards as text
A patient presents with sudden-onset tearing chest pain radiating to the back. Blood pressure in the right arm is 160/90 mmHg and in the left arm is 110/70 mmHg. The nurse suspects:
Answer: Aortic dissection with involvement of subclavian artery
Tearing chest pain radiating to the back with a blood pressure differential greater than 20 mmHg between arms is classic for aortic dissection.
When interpreting a 12-lead ECG, which finding is most indicative of left ventricular hypertrophy?
Answer: S wave in V1 plus R wave in V5 or V6 greater than 35 mm
The Sokolow-Lyon criteria for LVH requires the S wave in V1 plus R wave in V5 or V6 to exceed 35 mm.
A patient with heart failure and an ejection fraction of 25% is being evaluated for cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT). The primary goal of CRT is to:
Answer: Coordinate ventricular contraction to improve cardiac output
CRT uses biventricular pacing to resynchronize left and right ventricular contractions, improving cardiac output in patients with ventricular dyssynchrony.
A patient with chronic heart failure is started on spironolactone. The nurse monitors most closely for:
Answer: Hyperkalemia, especially if also taking an ACE inhibitor
Spironolactone is a potassium-sparing diuretic; when combined with ACE inhibitors (which also retain potassium), dangerous hyperkalemia can develop.
A patient in the cardiac ICU has a pulmonary artery catheter. The nurse notes a PCWP of 22 mmHg. This finding indicates:
Answer: Elevated left ventricular end-diastolic pressure
A PCWP above 18 mmHg reflects elevated left ventricular end-diastolic pressure, indicating left heart congestion and volume overload.
A patient experiences a run of ventricular tachycardia lasting 28 seconds that terminates spontaneously. This is classified as:
Answer: Non-sustained ventricular tachycardia
Non-sustained VT is defined as three or more consecutive ventricular beats lasting less than 30 seconds that terminate spontaneously.
A nurse caring for a patient receiving IV heparin for NSTEMI notes an aPTT of 200 seconds (therapeutic range 60–100 seconds). The priority intervention is:
Answer: Reduce the heparin infusion rate per protocol and notify the provider
A supratherapeutic aPTT requires reducing the heparin infusion rate per protocol and notifying the provider to prevent hemorrhagic complications.