Brunner & Suddarth's Textbook of Medical-Surgical Nursing 13th Edition by Kerry Cheever, Janice Hinkle

Exercise 3

A 62-year-old man presents to the emergency department with a history of suddenonset of shortness of breath, anxiety, and difficulty ambulating.He had a kneereplacement 2 weeks ago. He reports a history of high blood pressure and smokes onepack of cigarettes per day, and you observe that he is obese. His medications includeaspirin, metoprolol (Lopressor), another "blood pressure pill," a "cholesterol pill,"and a "new pill" he got to "thin his blood" after surgery.He has been slow toambulate following discharge from the hospital but has been doing somerehabilitation exercises. He said he had felt pain in his leg for the past 3 days whiledoing his exercises. He reports that he woke up suddenly tonight short of breath, wasscared, and had his wife bring him to the emergency department.What risk factorsdoes he have for cardiopulmonary disease? What is the potential cause of his acuteproblem? What signs will you look for during your physical examination of thispatient?