Summary NSG 420 MED SURG 2 EXAM #1 STUDY GUIDE LATEST UPDATE 2024/2025 GUARANTEED SUCCESS

Nursing Assessment: Cardiovascular System Structures and Functions of Cardiovascular System • Heart • Four chambers o It lies within the thorax in the mediastinal space that separates the right and left pleural cavities. • Composed of three layers o Endocardium o Myocardium o Epicardium • Pericardium (fibrous sac) • Left ventricular wall 2-3 times thicker than right • APPLICATION: which problem will kill faster? LEFT (pumping blood) o If in tissue (bruise), CANNOT move so CANNOT get PE o Stroke has to come from LEFT side o Immobile –risk for DVT Blood Flow Through the Heart • KNOW THIS!!! • The right atrium receives venous blood from the inferior and superior venae cavae and the coronary sinus. The blood then passes through the tricuspid valve into the right ventricle. With each contraction, the right ventricle pumps blood through the pulmonic valve into the pulmonary artery and to the lungs. • Blood flows from the lungs to the left atrium by way of the pulmonary veins. It then passes through the mitral valve and into the left ventricle. As the heart contracts, blood is ejected through the aortic valve into the aorta and thus enters the systemic circulation. • STEPS: o 1. A red blood cell will come from either the superior vena cava or the inferior vena cava and enter into the right atrium 2. the blood then flows across the tricuspid valve to the right ventricle 3. the right ventricle then squeezes and ejects that blood cell into a vessel called the “pulmonary artery” 4. the pulmonary artery splits into two vessels each going to the lungs 5. as the red blood cell makes its way through the lungs, it returns through the pulmonary veins to the left atrium 6. that blood is now oxygenated 7. its picked up oxygen then goes across the mitral valve into the left ventricle, which does most of the work in terms of delivery of blood flow to the body 8. that blood cell is now ejected into the aorta to some organ or muscle or skin in the human body Cardiac Valves • Valves are structural • Thickness is mechanical • Main places get vegetations and problems are with AV valves • Aortic (tight noise aortic stenosis) -- low BP (LOW cardiac output) o Tx: replace valve (tavern) – transaortic valvular repair o This person is in need of anticoagulation o Sutured in (going back and forth between if can have MRI or not) • The four valves of the heart serve to keep blood flowing in a forward direction. • The cusps of the mitral and tricuspid valves are attached to thin strands of fibrous tissue termed chordae tendineae. Chordae are anchored in the papillary muscles of the ventricles. This support system prevents eversion of the leaflets into the atria during ventricular contraction. • The pulmonic and aortic valves (also known as semilunar valves) prevent blood from regurgitating into the ventricles at the end of each ventricular contraction. Coronary Arteries and Veins • Can’t fix microvascularity o Most women who have heart attack die within a year (they don’t present with chest pain) ▪ Stents may not work (only thing we can do is give calcium channel blockers and other pharmacology) • The myocardium has its own blood supply, the coronary circulation.