Resp HESI

Resp HESI A client comes to the emergency department reporting chest pain and difficulty breathing. A chest x-ray reveals a pneumothorax. Which finding should the nurse expect to identify when assessing the client? Distended neck veins Paradoxical respirations Increasing amounts of purulent sputum Absence of breath sounds over the affected area - ANSWER-D When the lung is collapsed, air is not moving into and out of the area, and therefore breath sounds are absent. Distended neck veins are associated with failure of the right side of the heart and can occur with a mediastinal shift, but there is no evidence of either. Paradoxical respirations occur with flail chest, not pneumothorax. Purulent sputum is a sign of infection, not pneumothorax. The nurse is assessing a client's