An acutely ill patient has had a pulmonary artery catheter (PAC) placed and the critical care nurse is closely monitoring the data that the PAC provides.
When documenting the patient's mean arterial pressure, the nurse understands that this value represents:
A) The midpoint between the patient's systolic arterial blood pressure and diastolic arterial blood pressure
B) The average arterial blood pressure throughout the patient's cardiac cycle
C) The difference between the patient's systolic arterial blood pressure and diastolic arterial blood pressure
D) The standard deviation of the patient's arterial blood pressure over a given time period
Question 2
An arterial line has been ordered for a patient who is receiving treatment in the critical care unit. The nurse on the unit should recognize that this patient will benefit from:
A) Bolus infusion of intravenous solution
B) Simultaneous administration of more than one antibiotic
C) Frequent blood pressure monitoring
D) Serial blood culture samples
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