ACLS review

291.        A 45 year old woman is brought to the hospital for nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea x 4 days.  Her heart rate is 180 and her BP is 84/40. She complains of feeling weak and dizzy.  A saline lock has been inserted and a liter fluid bolus has been ordered.  She has been placed on telemetry.  As you begin to assess her she suddenly vomits and loses consciousness.  What would be the next appropriate step for this patient?

a.   Administer a precordial thump

b.   Shock the patient at 200J

c.   Call respiratory therapy

d.   Assess her responsiveness, respirations, and check a pulse

292.  For this patient, the cardiac monitor reveals a regular, narrow complex tachycardic rhythm.  However, a pulse check reveals that the patient is pulseless.  What would be the next appropriate intervention?

a.  Administer a precordial thump

b.  Cardiovert at 50 J

c.  Begin CPR

d.  Defibrillate at 200 J

293.  Based upon the above information about this patient, you would follow which AHA algorithm in treating this patient:

a.  Unstable tachycardia

b.  Pulseless VF/VT

c.  Unstable bradycardia

d.  PEA

294. In order to confirm pulselessness in a patient with PEA, you should

a.  Confirm pulselessness with a doppler

b.  Check a femoral pulse over 2 minutes

c.  Order a stat echocardiogram

d.  Insert an arterial line and assess the waveform

295.  For the above patient, CPR is in progress.   IV access had been obtained and now the patient has just been intubated.  What would be the next appropriate step?

a.  Suction the patient

b.  Administer Epinephrine 

c.  Confirm ET tube placement

d.  Reassess the rhythm on the monitor

Answers 291 - 295

291.  d

292.  c

293.  d

294.  a

295.  c


Reviewed 2/28/16