Your Patient Is a 55-Year-Old Man with a History of Chronic

Your patient is a 55-year-old man with a history of chronic bronchitis.You have been called to his home today because of an increase in his level of respiratory distress.The patient is on 2 liters per minute of oxygen by nasal cannula at home.Your assessment reveals difficulty speaking due to shortness of breath,leaning forward to breathe,a productive cough,and a respiratory rate of 32 per minute.Which of the following is true concerning the best course of action for this patient?

A) Because increased blood levels of carbon dioxide are the primary stimulus to breathe, you should encourage the patient to rebreathe his exhaled air from a paper bag.
B) You should increase the patient's oxygen flow rate to deliver adequate amounts of oxygen to his tissues. If his respiratory rate decreases, you can assist him with a bag-valve-mask device.
C) You should increase the patient's oxygen flow rate until his respiratory rate decreases and then resume oxygen administration at 2 liters per minute.
D) You should not increase the patient's oxygen flow rate because of his likely dependence on a hypoxic drive to stimulate breathing.