The nurse is monitoring a client in the post-anesthesia care unit (PACU) following a coronary artery bypass graft, observing a regular ventricular rate of 82 beats/min and "sawtooth" P waves with an atrial rate of approximately 300 beat/min. How does the nurse interpret this rhythm?
Ventricular tachycardia
Atrial flutter
Atrial fibrillation
Ventricular fibrillation
The Correct Answer is B
A. Ventricular tachycardia presents with wide QRS complexes and a fast ventricular rate, but not sawtooth P waves.
B. Atrial flutter is characterized by a rapid atrial rate (typically around 250–350 beats/min) and "sawtooth" flutter waves on the ECG. The ventricular response is often regular, as seen in this client with a ventricular rate of 82 beats/min.
C. Atrial fibrillation presents with an irregularly irregular rhythm and absent P waves, replaced by fibrillatory waves — not the sawtooth pattern described here.
D. Ventricular fibrillation shows chaotic, irregular, and disorganized electrical activity with no identifiable P waves, QRS complexes, or T waves, and would not present as a stable rhythm with a ventricular rate of 82 bpm.
Nursing Test Bank
Naxlex Comprehensive Predictor Exams
Related Questions
Correct Answer is B
Explanation
A. Blood flowing back from the left atrium to the left ventricle describes mitral regurgitation, not aortic regurgitation.
B. Aortic regurgitation involves the backflow of blood from the aorta into the left ventricle during diastole due to an incompetent aortic valve. This leads to volume overload in the left ventricle.
C. Obstruction of blood from the left atrium to the left ventricle occurs in mitral stenosis, not aortic regurgitation.
D. Obstruction of blood flow from the left ventricle is characteristic of aortic stenosis, not aortic regurgitation.
Correct Answer is A
Explanation
A. Heart failure often presents with dyspnea, crackles (from pulmonary congestion), jugular vein distention, dependent edema, and hepatomegaly due to fluid overload and impaired cardiac output—these are classic signs.
B. Pulmonary embolism typically causes sudden dyspnea, chest pain, and tachypnea but not hepatomegaly or dependent edema.
C. Tension pneumothorax presents with tracheal deviation, absent breath sounds on one side, and hypotension—different from the systemic fluid overload signs described.
D. Cardiac tamponade presents with muffled heart sounds, hypotension, and jugular vein distention (Beck's triad), but it does not cause crackles, hepatomegaly, or peripheral edema.
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