Chapter 42  Introduction to the Cardiovascular System

Chapter 42  Introduction to the Cardiovascular System

Complete Chapter Questions And Answers
 

Sample Questions

1. Several nursing students are creating a poster on the mechanism of the heart. What structure would they
label as separating the right half of the heart from the left?

A) Auricle

B) Bundle of His

C) Syncytia

D) Septum

Ans: D

Feedback:

The septum is a partition that separates the right and left halves of the heart. The right half receives
deoxygenated blood from everywhere in the body and the left half receives oxygenated blood from the
lungs. The auricle is an appendage attached to each atrium, which collects blood that is pumped into the
ventricles by atrial contractions. Impulses are sent from the atria into the ventricles by way of the
bundle of His, which then enters the septum and subdivides into three bundle branches that become a
network of fibers that delivers the electrical impulse to the ventricular cells. The myocardium forms
two intertwining networks, atrial and ventricular syncytia, which enable first the atria and then the
ventricles to contract synchronously when excited by the same stimulus.

2. A nurse is caring for a neonate born with a congenital heart anomaly. To better help the parents
understand the impact of this disorder, the nurse begins by describing the usual flow of blood through
the heart which takes what course?

A) Deoxygenated blood from the lungs enters the left atrium through the pulmonary artery.

B) Oxygenated blood from the lungs enters the right atrium through the pulmonary veins.

C) Deoxygenated blood from the lungs enters the right atrium through pulmonary veins.

D) Oxygenated blood from the lungs enters the left atrium through the pulmonary veins.

Ans: D

Feedback:

Oxygenated blood from the lungs enters the left atrium through the pulmonary veins and passes through
the mitral valve into the left ventricle, which contracts and ejects blood through the aortic valve into the

Test Bank – Focus on Nursing Pharmacology (7th Edition by Amy Karch) 684

aorta and out to the systemic circulation.

3. A patient is scheduled to have a pacemaker implanted. The nurse knows pacemakers can be inserted to
correct what problem?

A) Increased blood pressure

B) Increased pulse pressure

C) Malfunction of the sinuatrial (SA) node

D) Onset of oncotic pressure

Ans: C

Feedback:

Pacemaker cells are found in the SA node of the heart, which controls cardiac contraction and
relaxation, therefore controlling the overall heart rate. If the SA node malfunctions, a pacemaker would
be indicated. Hypertension, increased pulse pressure, and onset of oncotic pressure would not be an
indication for pacemaker insertion.

4. What description of an artery, made by the nurse, is accurate?

A) Connective tubes composed of simple endothelial cells

B) Floppy capacitance tubes

C) Rigid resistance tubes

D) Tubes carrying blood into the heart

Ans: C

Feedback:

The arteries are muscular, rigid, resistance tubes of the cardiovascular system that carry blood away
from the heart. The veins are capacitance tubes that carry blood to the heart. Capillaries connect arteries
and veins.

5. A 54-year-old man has a myocardial infarction, resulting in left-sided heart failure. The nurse caring for
the man is most concerned that he will develop edema in what area of the body?

A) Abdominal

B) Liver

C) Peripheral

D) Pulmonary

Ans: D

Feedback:

Pulmonary edema can occur when the heart is damaged and the left side of the heart is unable to
effectively pump blood returning from the right side of the heart into systemic circulation. This lack of
blood movement out of the lungs results in an increased hydrostatic pressure in the capillary beds of the
lungs and the result can be pulmonary edema. Abdominal, liver, and peripheral edemas occur when the
right side of the heart is failing and the returning venous blood pools in the organs and periphery.