March 18, 2024

Nursing Tip of the Day! - Fundamentals

Category: Fundamentals 
The heart's ability to increase the rate of a normal sinus rhythm is primarily related to age: the maximum HR possible with a sinus tachycardia is approximately 220 beats/min minus age, with normal variations as high as 10 to 20 beats/min.

March 17, 2024

Nursing Tip of the Day! - Fundamentals

Category: Fundamentals 
Normally, the human heart beats at approximately 80 beats/min (± 20 beats/min). If the heart rate exceeds 100 beats/min, it is called tachycardia. If it drops below 60 beats/min, it is called bradycardia.

March 16, 2024

Nursing Tip of the Day! - Fundamentals

Category: Fundamentals 
Treatment is different for patients with a secondary spontaneous pneumothorax. In patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, malignancy, cystic fibrosis, pneumonia and tuberculosis, a chest tube usually cannot be avoided.

March 15, 2024

Nursing Tip of the Day! - Fundamentals

Category: Fundamentals 
With no intervention, a small pneumothorax will resolve over a period of days to weeks. Supplemental oxygen will speed the process of lung reexpansion by increasing the rate of pleural air absorption.

March 14, 2024

Nursing Tip of the Day! - Fundamentals

Category: Fundamentals 
Chest tube placement is probably not necessary in healthy patients with small primary spontaneous or isolated small traumatic pneumothoraces in the absence of respiratory compromise or concomitant injuries.

March 13, 2024

Nursing Tip of the Day! - Fundamentals

Category: Fundamentals 
Supraventricular tachycardias are classified as narrow-complex (QRS duration < 0.12 second) and wide-complex tachycardias (QRS duration > 0.12 second). The rhythms of these dysrhythmias can be regular or irregular.

Nursing Tip of the Day! - Fundamentals

Category: Fundamentals 
The gold standard for pneumothorax diagnosis is a thoracic CT scan, which can even detect a pneumothorax that is not easily visible on a plain radiograph. CT scans are much more sensitive than plain radiographs in detecting pneumothorax.

March 12, 2024

Nursing Tip of the Day! - Fundamentals

Category: Fundamentals 
During the initial phase of resuscitation (airway, breathing, circulation, disability), consideration for the diagnosis of pneumothorax should be considered in patients who are tachycardic, hypotensive and dyspneic.

March 11, 2024

Nursing Tip of the Day! - Fundamentals

Category: Fundamentals 
Tension pneumothorax must be considered in any patient with sudden or severe respiratory or cardiac deterioration and in intubated patients who become difficult to ventilate. Signs include increased airway pressure and hypotension.

March 10, 2024

Nursing Tip of the Day! - Fundamentals

Category: Fundamentals 
An empyema is an accumulation of pus in the pleural space, usually from a parapneumonic infectious effusion. An empyema can also be caused by violation of the thoracic space during surgical procedures, trauma and esophageal perforation.

March 9, 2024

Nursing Tip of the Day! - Fundamentals

Category: Fundamentals 
A tension pneumothorax is usually caused by penetrating chest injuries but can also result from fracture of the trachea or bronchi, a ruptured esophagus and the presence of an occlusive dressing over an open pneumothorax.

March 8, 2024

Nursing Tip of the Day! - Fundamentals

Category: Fundamentals 
A tension pneumothorax occurs when an injury creates a one-way “flap valve” mechanism that allows air into the pleural space with inspiration but then closes with expiration and traps the air.

March 7, 2024

Nursing Tip of the Day! - Fundamentals

Category: Fundamentals 
An open pneumothorax occurs when the chest wall is penetrated and the negative intrapleural pressure is lost. Each breath can increase intrapleural pressure, especially if the diameter of the wound is greater than the diameter of the trachea.

March 6, 2024

Nursing Tip of the Day! - Fundamentals

Category: Fundamentals 
Closed pneumothorax usually occurs from a rib fracture that penetrates the lung, but can also occur when an alveolus or bleb ruptures after blunt trauma. The air leak is generally self-limited but can progress to a tension pneumothorax.

March 5, 2024

Nursing Tip of the Day! - Fundamentals

Category: Fundamentals 
Spontaneous pneumothorax is caused by the rupture of a subpleural lung bleb with little or no trauma and can be categorized as either primary or secondary based on the presence of underlying lung disease.