NURS 5315 Exam Questions with Correct Answers Latest Update 2025
Clinical implication for Beta blockers? (book) - Answers Atrial fibrillation, chronic left heart failure or
reduced ejection fraction
Beta Blockers (book) - Answers reduce myocardial demand. By blocking beta receptors.
Myocardial contractility is a change in developed tension at a given resting fiber length, which is simply
the ability of the heart muscle to shorten. At the molecular level, thin filaments of actin slide over thick
filaments of myosin called the cross-bridge cycle of muscle contraction. (video) - Answers Calcium
interacts with troponin C which causes tropomyosin to move thus allowing actin and myosin to work
together to cause contraction.
Explain the difference between cardiac hemodynamic measures Video Lecture:
Cardiac Output - Answers Cardiac output is the amount of blood pushed from the left ventricle in 1
minute. It is calculated by multiplying the heart rate in beats per minute by the stroke volume.
Right Heart (book) - Answers pumps blood through the lungs
Left Heart (book) - Answers sends blood throughout the systemic circulation, which supplies all of the
body except the lungs.
Arteries (hint A for away) (Book) - Answers carry blood (away) from the heart to all parts of the body,
where they branch into arterioles and even smaller vessels until they become a fine meshwork of
capillaries.
Capillaries (Book) - Answers allow the closest contact and exchange between the blood and the
interstitial space, or interstitium—the environment in which the cells live
Venules and the veins (Book) - Answers carry blood from capillaries back to the heart.
Lymph (Book) - Answers is returned to the cardiovascular system by vessels of the lymphatic system.
Blood flow through the heart chambers/valves (Book) - Answers The right heart pumps de-oxygenated
blood through to the right atrium>through the tricuspid valve> right ventricle>pulmonary semilunar
valve>pulmonary artery>Lungs (now oxygenated blood)>Pulmonary veins>Left Atrium>Bicuspid or
Mitral valve>Left Ventricle>Aortic Semilunar Valve>Aorta
The coronary arteries provide blood to which part of the heart. (Book) - Answers The myocardium and
other heart structures are supplied with oxygen and nutrients by the coronary circulation
What are the two major coronary arteries? (Book) - Answers The major coronary arteries are the right
coronary artery (RCA) and the left coronary artery (LCA)
, The transmission of electrical impulses, termed cardiac action potentials move throughout the
myocardium. Analyze the process of action potentials. (Book) - Answers As an electrical impulse passes
from cell to cell (fiber to fiber) in the myocardium, it stimulates an intracellular process that results in
fiber shortening—that is, muscular contraction or systole. Between action potentials, the fibers relax
and return to their resting length, causing diastole.
The various phases of the cardiac action potential are related
to changes in the permeability of the cell membrane to sodium,
potassium, chloride, and calcium(Book) - Answers Threshold is the point at which the cell membrane's
selective permeability to these ions is temporarily disrupted, leading to depolarization. If the resting
membrane potential becomes more negative as a result of a decrease in extracellular potassium
concentration (hypokalemia), it is termed hyperpolarization.
How potassium affects myocardial action potentials, contraction, and clinical manifestations.
Hypokalemia - Answers When the resting membrane potential becomes more negative as a result of a
decrease in extracellular potassium concentration (Book)
it is termed hyper-polarization.
Calcium and Excitation-contraction coupling is the process by which an action potential arriving at the
plasma membrane of the muscle fiber triggers the cycle leading to cross-bridge activity and contraction.
(Book) - Answers It enters the myocardial cell from the interstitial fluid after electrical excitation, which
increases the membrane permeability to calcium. Two types of calcium channels (L-type and T-type) are
identified in cardiac tissues.
Calcium interacts with troponin C which causes tropomyosin to move thus allowing actin and myosin to
work together to cause contraction. (Lecture) - Answers The greater the amount of intracellular calcium
the stronger the contraction.
Hypercalcemia - Answers Because serum calcium levels are increased, a greater amount of calcium is
also contained inside the cells. The threshold potential becomes more positive (hyperpolarized) (e.g.,
moves from −60 to −50 millivolts) and the cell membrane becomes refractory to depolarization
(decreased excitability).
Hypocalcemia manifestations - Answers there is an increase in neuromuscular excitability
Hypocalemia manifestations - Answers Two clinical signs are Chvostek sign and Trousseau sign. Chvostek
sign is elicited by tapping on the facial nerve just below the temple. A positive sign is a twitch of the nose
or lip. Trousseau sign is contraction of the hand and fingers when the arterial blood flow in the arm is
occluded for 5 minutes with the use of a blood pressure cuff. More severe forms manifest tetany.
Myocardial relaxation (Lecture) - Answers intracellular calcium levels decrease.
Clinical implication for Beta blockers? (book) - Answers Atrial fibrillation, chronic left heart failure or
reduced ejection fraction
Beta Blockers (book) - Answers reduce myocardial demand. By blocking beta receptors.
Myocardial contractility is a change in developed tension at a given resting fiber length, which is simply
the ability of the heart muscle to shorten. At the molecular level, thin filaments of actin slide over thick
filaments of myosin called the cross-bridge cycle of muscle contraction. (video) - Answers Calcium
interacts with troponin C which causes tropomyosin to move thus allowing actin and myosin to work
together to cause contraction.
Explain the difference between cardiac hemodynamic measures Video Lecture:
Cardiac Output - Answers Cardiac output is the amount of blood pushed from the left ventricle in 1
minute. It is calculated by multiplying the heart rate in beats per minute by the stroke volume.
Right Heart (book) - Answers pumps blood through the lungs
Left Heart (book) - Answers sends blood throughout the systemic circulation, which supplies all of the
body except the lungs.
Arteries (hint A for away) (Book) - Answers carry blood (away) from the heart to all parts of the body,
where they branch into arterioles and even smaller vessels until they become a fine meshwork of
capillaries.
Capillaries (Book) - Answers allow the closest contact and exchange between the blood and the
interstitial space, or interstitium—the environment in which the cells live
Venules and the veins (Book) - Answers carry blood from capillaries back to the heart.
Lymph (Book) - Answers is returned to the cardiovascular system by vessels of the lymphatic system.
Blood flow through the heart chambers/valves (Book) - Answers The right heart pumps de-oxygenated
blood through to the right atrium>through the tricuspid valve> right ventricle>pulmonary semilunar
valve>pulmonary artery>Lungs (now oxygenated blood)>Pulmonary veins>Left Atrium>Bicuspid or
Mitral valve>Left Ventricle>Aortic Semilunar Valve>Aorta
The coronary arteries provide blood to which part of the heart. (Book) - Answers The myocardium and
other heart structures are supplied with oxygen and nutrients by the coronary circulation
What are the two major coronary arteries? (Book) - Answers The major coronary arteries are the right
coronary artery (RCA) and the left coronary artery (LCA)
, The transmission of electrical impulses, termed cardiac action potentials move throughout the
myocardium. Analyze the process of action potentials. (Book) - Answers As an electrical impulse passes
from cell to cell (fiber to fiber) in the myocardium, it stimulates an intracellular process that results in
fiber shortening—that is, muscular contraction or systole. Between action potentials, the fibers relax
and return to their resting length, causing diastole.
The various phases of the cardiac action potential are related
to changes in the permeability of the cell membrane to sodium,
potassium, chloride, and calcium(Book) - Answers Threshold is the point at which the cell membrane's
selective permeability to these ions is temporarily disrupted, leading to depolarization. If the resting
membrane potential becomes more negative as a result of a decrease in extracellular potassium
concentration (hypokalemia), it is termed hyperpolarization.
How potassium affects myocardial action potentials, contraction, and clinical manifestations.
Hypokalemia - Answers When the resting membrane potential becomes more negative as a result of a
decrease in extracellular potassium concentration (Book)
it is termed hyper-polarization.
Calcium and Excitation-contraction coupling is the process by which an action potential arriving at the
plasma membrane of the muscle fiber triggers the cycle leading to cross-bridge activity and contraction.
(Book) - Answers It enters the myocardial cell from the interstitial fluid after electrical excitation, which
increases the membrane permeability to calcium. Two types of calcium channels (L-type and T-type) are
identified in cardiac tissues.
Calcium interacts with troponin C which causes tropomyosin to move thus allowing actin and myosin to
work together to cause contraction. (Lecture) - Answers The greater the amount of intracellular calcium
the stronger the contraction.
Hypercalcemia - Answers Because serum calcium levels are increased, a greater amount of calcium is
also contained inside the cells. The threshold potential becomes more positive (hyperpolarized) (e.g.,
moves from −60 to −50 millivolts) and the cell membrane becomes refractory to depolarization
(decreased excitability).
Hypocalcemia manifestations - Answers there is an increase in neuromuscular excitability
Hypocalemia manifestations - Answers Two clinical signs are Chvostek sign and Trousseau sign. Chvostek
sign is elicited by tapping on the facial nerve just below the temple. A positive sign is a twitch of the nose
or lip. Trousseau sign is contraction of the hand and fingers when the arterial blood flow in the arm is
occluded for 5 minutes with the use of a blood pressure cuff. More severe forms manifest tetany.
Myocardial relaxation (Lecture) - Answers intracellular calcium levels decrease.
