INSTRUCTIONS. The following exercises are to be answered by marking the lettered response that best answers the question or completes the statement, by writing the answer in the space provided, or by performing the action indicated.
The correct answers are provided at the bottom of the page.
1. Can blood pressure be described by a single number like other vital signs?
a. Yes.
b. No.
2. An adult patient has a systolic pressure of 120 mm Hg and a diastolic pressure of 80 mm Hg. Which of the following statements is true?
a. The patient’s blood pressure readings are within normal range of a male, but not a female.
b. The patient’s blood pressure readings are within the normal range for a female, but not a male.
c. The patient’s blood pressure readings are within the normal range for both males and females.
d. The patient’s blood pressure readings do not fall within the normal readings for either males or females.
3. In order to release air from the bladder, you:
a. Disconnect the handbulb from the tubing.
b. Turn a screw near the handbulb.
c. Open the stopper valve on the bladder itself.
d. Flip the airflow directional switch on the handbulb and use the handbulb to pump the air out of the bladder.
4. When you put the earpieces of a stethoscope into your ears, you should have the tubing of the earpieces pointing:
a. Forward.
b. Toward the rear.
5. You have properly placed the bladder of the sphygmomanometer around a patient’s upper arm. The bladder is inflated to a pressure of 130 mm Hg. There is no pulse in the artery below the point where the bladder is applied. Which of the following statements is true concerning this situation?
a. The patient’s systolic pressure is greater than 130 mm Hg.
b. The patient’s systolic pressure is less than 130 mm Hg.
c. Nothing can be determined concerning the patient’s blood pressure because the artery is collapsed.
SPECIAL INSTRUCTIONS FOR EXERCISE 6 THROUGH 11. For each substance, activity, or condition listed below which tends to increase (raise) a person’s blood pressure, write an “I” in the blank preceding the substance, activity, or condition. If the substance, activity, or condition usually results in a decreased (lower) blood pressure, write a “D” in the blank.
_____ 6. Overweight.
_____ 7. Growing older.
_____ 8. Vasodilator drug.
_____ 9. Arteriosclerosis.
_____10. Eating.
_____11. Wound with a large amount of bleeding.
12. When taking a person’s blood pressure, you should inflate the bladder to an initial pressure that is at least _____ mm Hg but not more than _____ mm Hg.
13. You are having some problems determining a patient’s blood pressure using his popliteal artery. You should not keep an inflated bladder around the patient’s thigh for more than _____ minute(s).
14. If you cannot use a stethoscope, you can still take a patient’s blood pressure by
______________________________________________________________.
15. Practice taking a person’s blood pressure. You should have an experienced person observe you while you determine the “patient’s” systolic and diastolic pressure. Then have the experienced person take the person’s blood pressure.
Lesson 5: Self-Test Answers
1. b (takes two numbers) (para 5-1)
2. c (paras 5-2a(1), (2); b(1),(2))
3. b (para 5-4a(4))
4. a (para 5-4b(3))
5. b (para 5-5b(2)
6. I (para 5-3e)
7. I (para 5-3b)
8. D (para 5-3k)
9. I (para 5-3a(3))
10. I (para 5-3l)
11. D (para 5-3m)
12. At least 140 mm Hg but not more than 200 mm Hg (para 5-6n, Caution).
13. Two minutes (para 5-6p(1))
14. Feeling (palpating) the pulse instead of listening through the stethoscope (para 5-7).
15. Follow the procedures given in para 5-6. Your systolic reading should be within 4 mm Hg (plus or minus) of the systolic reading obtained by the experienced person. Your diastolic reading should also be within +4 mm Hg of the diastolicreading obtained by the experienced person.