terminology

Question 1

venous return

Answer 1

the flow of blood from the periphery (rest of body) back to the heart (RA).

Question 2

Mean Arterial Pressure (MAP)

Answer 2

an average BP in an individual during a single cardiac cycle

Question 3

perfusion

Answer 3

the passage of blood, blood substitute or other fluid through blood vessels or other channels through an organ or tissue.

the amount of blood reaching the tissue of interest.

Question 4

CRT

Answer 4

capillary refill test; the time taken for a distal capillary bed to reagin its colour after pressure has been applied to cause blanching (pressure via one’s nail tip to another fingertip/skin which temporarily obstructs blood flow to that area.

Question 5

hypercapnia? what happens as a result of this

Answer 5

excess levels of CO2 in the blood. when this happens, we breathe more to rid ourselves of this CO2 and intake more O2, which will increase our RR. - this explains why increased RR are seen in hypercapnic patients, e..g those with COPD.

Question 6

hypoxaemia- blood

Answer 6

low levels of O2 circulating in the blood

Question 7

hypoxia-tissues and common signs

Answer 7

inadequate O2 perfusion of the tissues; confusion and restlessness are common signs

Question 8

peripheral

Answer 8

‘away from the body’, i.e. away from the centre of the body or body part. E.g. hands are peripheral to the shoulder, a peripheral temperature reading site would be the skin, etc.

Question 9

hyper pigmentation

Answer 9

pigmentation refers to colouring of the skin and so hyper pigmentation refers to an often harmless condition where patches of the skin become darker in colour than surrounding skin

Question 10

PO2/ PAO2

Answer 10

partial pressure of O2, which is a measurement of O2 pressure in the arterial blood and reflects how well O2 is able to move from the lungs to the blood.

PAO2 is often altered by severe illness.