The Nurse Is Caring for a Patient with Sepsis

The nurse is caring for a patient with sepsis.On completing the hemodynamic assessment,the nurse notes that the patient's afterload,measured by the systemic vascular resistance,is 400 dynes/sec/cm^-5.The nurse evaluates this finding to be primarily the result of which change associated with sepsis?

A) Decreased circulating volume
B) Reaction to antibiotics used to treat sepsis
C) Marked vasodilation
D) Decreased ventricular contractility