DREXEL NURS 548 FINAL EXAM | COMPREHENSIVE NURSING STUDY
GUIDE, PRACTICE QUESTIONS & ANSWERS 2026/2027
B- Alcoholism - ANS ✔✔A number of systemic insults can lead to acute respiratory distress syndrome.
Which patient characteristic puts any given patient at a markedly high risk for developing ARDS?
A- Cigarette smoking
B- Alcoholism
C- Restrictive disease
D- Obstructive disease
A- Compliance
Reduced compliance is the characteristic that requires a greater change in pressure to get air in. - ANS
✔✔Restrictive lung diseases are characterized by a decrease in tissue:
A- Compliance
B- Recoil
C- Pressure
D- Volume
B- Smooth muscle relaxation - ANS ✔✔All of the following are pathologic responses in the patient having
an acute asthma exacerbation except:
A- Vasodilation
B- Smooth muscle relaxation
C- Endothelial leakage
D- Mucus hypersecretion
D- Displaces water from the air/liquid interface
Surfactant is a hydrophobic phospholipid that displaces water from the air/liquid interface. - ANS
✔✔Surfactant is necessary to respiration because it:
A- Signals maturation of pulmonary gas exchange spaces
B- Facilitates gas exchange consistent with the concentration gradient
C- Protects against osmotic movement of fluid into alveoli
D- Displaces water from the air/liquid interface
A- Compliance - ANS ✔✔The intrinsic property in lung tissue that relates a change in volume to a change
in pressure is known as:
A- Compliance
B- Recoil
C- Functional residual capacity
D- VQ
C- Decreased FEV1
Obstruction to airflow causes difficulty getting air out; decreased FEV1 is often one of the first indicators
of this. - ANS ✔✔Obstructive pulmonary diseases, such as asthma and COPD, lead to an increase in
resistance to airflow. This will typically produce which of the following abnormalities on spirometric
assessment?
A- Decreased RV
, B- Decreased FRC
C- Decreased FEV1
D- Increased FVC
C- Because they offer a very large cross sectional area
There are millions of alveoli and collectively the cross sectional area is so large that there is no
meaningful resistance to flow. There is no driving pressure, but that's not why there is no resistance.
Similarity, there is no ability to constrict, but that is not why there is no resistance either. Proximity to
diaphragm is not relevant. - ANS ✔✔The terminal respiratory unites are the smallest diameter structures
of the airway and yet offer no resistance to airflow. Why is this?
A- Because it is closest in proximity to diaphragm
B- Because by the time air reaches them there is no driving pressure
C- Because they offer a very large cross sectional area
D- Because they do not have the ability to constrict
A- Gravity
This is a normal distribution as a function of gravity - ANS ✔✔When a patient is upright, there is a linear
increase in flow from blood flow from apex to base due to:
A- Gravity
B- Resistance
C- Hypoxic vasoconstriction
D- Alveolar pO2
B- Bronchiectasis
Cole's Vicious Cycle links infection to inflammation to structural change in bronchiectasis - ANS
✔✔Cole's Vicious Cycle Theory is proposed to describe the pathophysiology of:
A- Cystic Fibrosis
B- Bronchiectasis
C- Asthma
D- COPD
C- Protect the airway from irritants - ANS ✔✔Vagal efferent fibers serve primarily to:
A- Signal the need for smooth muscle dilation
B- Antagonize beta 2 receptors
C- Protect the airway from irritants
D- Optimize VQ ratio
D- Inhibiting beta cell proliferation - ANS ✔✔The effects of GLP-1 include all of the following except:
A- Enhancing glucose-dependent insulin secretion
B- Slowing gastric emptying
C- Decreasing beta cell apoptosis
D- Inhibiting beta cell proliferation
C- Addison's disease - ANS ✔✔When a patient has hypotension, hyponatremia, and hyperkalemia, which
endocrine abnormality is most likely?
A- Cushing's syndrome
B- Conn's syndrome
C- Addison's disease
GUIDE, PRACTICE QUESTIONS & ANSWERS 2026/2027
B- Alcoholism - ANS ✔✔A number of systemic insults can lead to acute respiratory distress syndrome.
Which patient characteristic puts any given patient at a markedly high risk for developing ARDS?
A- Cigarette smoking
B- Alcoholism
C- Restrictive disease
D- Obstructive disease
A- Compliance
Reduced compliance is the characteristic that requires a greater change in pressure to get air in. - ANS
✔✔Restrictive lung diseases are characterized by a decrease in tissue:
A- Compliance
B- Recoil
C- Pressure
D- Volume
B- Smooth muscle relaxation - ANS ✔✔All of the following are pathologic responses in the patient having
an acute asthma exacerbation except:
A- Vasodilation
B- Smooth muscle relaxation
C- Endothelial leakage
D- Mucus hypersecretion
D- Displaces water from the air/liquid interface
Surfactant is a hydrophobic phospholipid that displaces water from the air/liquid interface. - ANS
✔✔Surfactant is necessary to respiration because it:
A- Signals maturation of pulmonary gas exchange spaces
B- Facilitates gas exchange consistent with the concentration gradient
C- Protects against osmotic movement of fluid into alveoli
D- Displaces water from the air/liquid interface
A- Compliance - ANS ✔✔The intrinsic property in lung tissue that relates a change in volume to a change
in pressure is known as:
A- Compliance
B- Recoil
C- Functional residual capacity
D- VQ
C- Decreased FEV1
Obstruction to airflow causes difficulty getting air out; decreased FEV1 is often one of the first indicators
of this. - ANS ✔✔Obstructive pulmonary diseases, such as asthma and COPD, lead to an increase in
resistance to airflow. This will typically produce which of the following abnormalities on spirometric
assessment?
A- Decreased RV
, B- Decreased FRC
C- Decreased FEV1
D- Increased FVC
C- Because they offer a very large cross sectional area
There are millions of alveoli and collectively the cross sectional area is so large that there is no
meaningful resistance to flow. There is no driving pressure, but that's not why there is no resistance.
Similarity, there is no ability to constrict, but that is not why there is no resistance either. Proximity to
diaphragm is not relevant. - ANS ✔✔The terminal respiratory unites are the smallest diameter structures
of the airway and yet offer no resistance to airflow. Why is this?
A- Because it is closest in proximity to diaphragm
B- Because by the time air reaches them there is no driving pressure
C- Because they offer a very large cross sectional area
D- Because they do not have the ability to constrict
A- Gravity
This is a normal distribution as a function of gravity - ANS ✔✔When a patient is upright, there is a linear
increase in flow from blood flow from apex to base due to:
A- Gravity
B- Resistance
C- Hypoxic vasoconstriction
D- Alveolar pO2
B- Bronchiectasis
Cole's Vicious Cycle links infection to inflammation to structural change in bronchiectasis - ANS
✔✔Cole's Vicious Cycle Theory is proposed to describe the pathophysiology of:
A- Cystic Fibrosis
B- Bronchiectasis
C- Asthma
D- COPD
C- Protect the airway from irritants - ANS ✔✔Vagal efferent fibers serve primarily to:
A- Signal the need for smooth muscle dilation
B- Antagonize beta 2 receptors
C- Protect the airway from irritants
D- Optimize VQ ratio
D- Inhibiting beta cell proliferation - ANS ✔✔The effects of GLP-1 include all of the following except:
A- Enhancing glucose-dependent insulin secretion
B- Slowing gastric emptying
C- Decreasing beta cell apoptosis
D- Inhibiting beta cell proliferation
C- Addison's disease - ANS ✔✔When a patient has hypotension, hyponatremia, and hyperkalemia, which
endocrine abnormality is most likely?
A- Cushing's syndrome
B- Conn's syndrome
C- Addison's disease
