Airway Test Prep Flashcards
You have attempted orotracheal intubation on a patient in cardiac arrest, but were unsucessful after three attempts. When you resume bag-mask ventilations, you are unable to maintain an adequate mask-to-fast seal. What should you do?
Inserta supraglottic airway device
In which of the following conditions would you most likley detect a drop in systolic blood pressure during inhalation?
Severe asthma
A patient with a reactive lower airway disease would be expected to present with
expiratory wheezing
How should you ventilate an adult patient with a stoma and no tracheostomy tube?
Use an infant- or child-size mask attached to an adult-size bag-mask device
You are ventilating a severely dehydrated, apneic 70-year-old male with a history of end-stage emphysema. In order to minimize the risk of lowering his cardiac output and blood pressure, you should
adjust the ventilation rate to allow complete exhalation
During an intubation attempt, you are having difficulty viewing the patient’s vocal cords. Which of the following actions would most likley help?
Ask your partner to manipulate the external larynx
Which of the following techniques or devices will provide the highest tidal volume to a patient?
Pocket face mask with oxygen attached
Assessment of a patient with respiratory distress reveals that his expiratory phase is four times longer than his inspiratory phase. Which of the following conditions would cause this?
Bronchospasm
A selective beta-2 adrenergic agonist will produce which of the following effects?
Bronchodilation
When passing an endotracheal tube inbetween the vocal cords, the paramedic should recall that
the trachea descends into the chest cavity just beyond the vocal cords
The normal partial pressure of oxygen in arterial blood is
80 to 100 mm Hg.
A patient with emphysema and respiratory distress is responsive to pain only. He has cyanosis to the face, neck, and chest; a decreased level of consciousness; and a heart rate of 170 beats/min. What should you do?
Assist his ventilations with a bag-mask device
After inserting a King LT supraglottic airway device into a patient and inflating the cuff with 40 ml of air, you meet resistance when ventilating and cannot see the patient’s chest rise. What should you do?
Slowly pull back on the King airway while observing for chest rise
Which of the following respiratory patterns is consistent with apneustic breathing?
Prolonged, gasping inhalation, followed by extremely short, ineffective exhalation.
The paramedic is ventilating an unresponsive intubated patient and can clearly see her chest rise with each ventilation. His partner reports that the patient’s blood pressure has decreased from 130/80 mm Hg to 90/60 mm Hg. Which of the following would BEST explain this?
Ventilations are being delivered too quickly or with to much volume
What is the approximate minute alveolar volume of a patient who is breathing at a rate of 26 breaths/min with an estimated tidal volume of 450 mL?
8,200 mL
Assessment of a patient with acute respiratory distress reveals that he is conscious and alert, but wheezing on exhalation. Which of the following treatments is appropriate for this patient?
Inhaled beta-2 agnoist medication nebulized
Which of the following findings is consistent with inadequate breathing in an adult?
14 breaths/min with reduced tidal volume
Which of the following intervention sequences is correct when treating an unresponsive adult with a severe foreign body airway obstruction?
Chest compression, larynoscopy and use of magill forcepts, cricothyrotomy
A hypoxemic patient
has decreased oxygen level in the arterial blood
Which of the following occurs when a patient is hypoventilating?
Increased PaCO2, decreased Pa02, decreased PH
Which of the following best describes vesicular breath sounds?
Inspiratory sounds are longer than expiratory sounds, and both are faint.
A 60-year-old woman presents with difficulty breathing. She is conscious and alert, but anxious, and tells you that she was suddenly awakened with the feeling that she was suffocating. She has dried blood on her lips and cyanosis around her mouth. Her heart rate is 120 beats/min and her oxygen saturation is 80%. What should you do?
Apply supplemental oxygen
A 56-year-old woman presents with severe respiratory distress. She is confused, appears tired, and has an oxygen saturation of 73%. What should you do?
Ventilate with a bag-mask device
A patient’s arterial blood gas reveals a pH of 7.49, PCO2 of of 12 mm Hg, PaO2 of 123 mm Hg, and bicarbonate of 24 mEq/L. What do these values indicate?
Respiratory alkalosis
Which of the following conditions can cause deep, rapid breathing and an end-tidal CO2 of less than 35 mm Hg?
Aspirin overdose
Which of the following conditions would have a direct negative impact on ventilation?
Muscular dystrophy
During your assessment of a patient with labored breathing, you note asymmetric chest wall movement. This indicates that
airflow into one lung is reduced
Which of the following statements regarding physiologic dead space is correct?
Diffuse alveolar collapse increases the size of the physiologic dead space
Common signs of a laryngeal fracture include all of the following, EXPECT
hematemsis
A 40-year-old patient has a blood glucose level of 800 mg/dl and is breathing deeply at a rate of 34 breaths/min. Which of the following should the paramedic expect to observe?
Small capnographic waveforms; low end-tidal CO2 reading
You are ventilating an intubated patient who has been in cardiac arrest for approximately 20 minutes. Despite the presence of bilaterally equal breath sounds, quantitative capnography persistently reads less than 10 mm Hg. What should you suspect?
The patient is not producing carbon dioxide
Which of the following statements regarding the concentration of gases is correct?
Nitrogen accounts for approximately 79% of atmopsheric air.
A patient with anaphylaxis is unresponsive. He has severe edema to the face and neck. Breath sounds ar difficult to hear, and loud inspiratory stridor is noted. What should you do?
Perform intubation
Which of the following is an appropriate drug combination to administer prior to intubation of a semiconscious patient with respiratory failure?
Etomidate and rocuronium
A 66-year-old male presents with labored breathing. He is conscious and alert; however, he is tachypneic, tachycardic, and is experiencing difficulty speaking. He has a history of hypertension and heart failure. Auscultation of his lungs reveals diffuse coarse crackles and his oxygen saturation is 86%. Which of the following interventions will be of MOST benefit to this patient?
Continuous positive airway pressure
A 40-year-old man was shot in the face with a shotgun. He is conscious, sitting upright in a chair. There is massive soft-tissue damage to his face; his mandible is gone and his upper airway structures are exposed. His oxygen saturation is 95% and his respiratory rate is 22 breaths/min. What should you do?
keep him sitting up, suction his airway, and transport
A 60-year-old female presents with acute respiratory distress. The patient has a tracheostomy tube in place, but is able to breath spontaneously. She is conscious, but restless. Her heart rate is 120 beats/min and her oxygen saturation is 82%. What should you do?
Assess for secretions in the tracheostomy tube and suction the tube if needed
In an otherwise healthy individual, breathing is primarily stimulated by:
an increase in arterial CO2
Which of the following MOST accurately describes the process of gas exchange in the lungs?
The gases exchanged in the lungs move from an area of greater concentration to an area of lesser concentration
Which of the following signs is unique to a severe foreign body upper airway obstruction?
Perioral cyanosis
A firefighter was exposed to smoke during a structure fire. He is conscious, alert, and oriented, but is experiencing respiratory distress. His oxygen saturation is 91% on room air and his heart rate is rapid and strong. Which of the following is the MOST appropriate initial means of oxygenating this patient?
Nonrebreathing mask set at 12 to 15 L/min
While intubating a 44-year-old man in respiratory arrest, you note that his pulse rate increases during the procedure. What should you do?
Recognize this as a normal response during intubation and monitor the pulse rate
Immediate treatment for an unresponsive patient with sonorous breathing involves
Manual head positioning
When attempting visualization of the vocal cords with a curved laryngoscope blade, you should
place the tip of the blade in the vallecula, and lift the jaw, tongue, and blade gently at a 45 angle.
After intubating a cardiac arrest patient, you observe a capnography reading that is steadily decreasing. During each ventilation, you see obvious bilateral chest rise and ventilatory compliance is good. What should do?
Reevaluate the effectiveness of your CPR
Which of the following would occur as the result of central neurogenic hyperventilation?
Hypocarbia and respiratory alkalosis