OEC OEC Airway Management & Respiratory Emergencies 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A patient in respiratory distress from asthma asks to sit up. What position should you allow?
- Supine
- Recovery position
- Position of comfort, typically upright or semi-upright (Correct answer)
- Trendelenburg
Correct answer: Position of comfort, typically upright or semi-upright
Patients in respiratory distress breathe most effectively in an upright or semi-upright position of comfort that maximizes lung expansion.
Question 2: What is the key distinction between respiratory distress and respiratory failure?
- Presence of cyanosis
- Patient's ability to maintain adequate oxygenation (Correct answer)
- Respiratory rate above 30
- Presence of audible wheezing
Correct answer: Patient's ability to maintain adequate oxygenation
Respiratory failure occurs when compensatory mechanisms are overwhelmed and the patient can no longer maintain adequate oxygenation, unlike distress where those mechanisms still function.
Question 3: Why do patients hyperventilating during a panic attack experience tingling in their hands and around their mouth?
- High blood oxygen levels
- Elevated carbon dioxide
- Low carbon dioxide (hypocapnia) causing vasoconstriction (Correct answer)
- Lactic acidosis
Correct answer: Low carbon dioxide (hypocapnia) causing vasoconstriction
Rapid breathing blows off CO2, causing hypocapnia and cerebral vasoconstriction that produces tingling (paresthesias) in the extremities and face.
Question 4: Which finding during breathing assessment requires immediate intervention?
- 16 breaths per minute
- Pink, warm skin
- Shallow chest rise with minimal tidal volume (Correct answer)
- Alert and oriented mental status
Correct answer: Shallow chest rise with minimal tidal volume
Shallow chest rise indicates inadequate tidal volume that will lead to hypoxia and requires immediate airway and ventilation support.
Question 5: What does a patient assuming the 'tripod position' (leaning forward on hands) indicate?
- Normal baseline breathing pattern
- Patient is about to lose consciousness
- Significant respiratory distress using accessory muscles (Correct answer)
- Patient is hyperventilating
Correct answer: Significant respiratory distress using accessory muscles
The tripod position is a compensatory posture adopted during significant respiratory distress to fix the shoulder girdle and maximize use of accessory breathing muscles.
Question 6: Which lung finding on auscultation is associated with fluid in the alveoli such as pulmonary edema?
- Wheezing
- Absent breath sounds
- Crackles (rales) (Correct answer)
- Rhonchi
Correct answer: Crackles (rales)
Crackles (rales) are produced by fluid in the alveoli snapping open during inspiration, commonly heard in pulmonary edema or pneumonia.
OEC OEC Airway Management & Respiratory Emergencies 2
A patient in respiratory distress from asthma asks to sit up.
What position should you allow?