Practice Question
A client was admitted to the med-surg unit last night with a diagnosis of left-sided heart failure. The health care provider prescribed continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) for the client and explained to the client why the CPAP will be used. The nurse caring for the client reinforces that the CPAP is used for which of the following?
Answer Choices:
Correct Answer:
To facilitate gas exchange
Rationale:
🌟 Left-sided heart failure causes blood to back up into the lungs, leading to pulmonary congestion and impaired oxygen movement across the alveolar membrane.
🌟 CPAP applies continuous positive pressure, preventing alveolar collapse and keeping more alveoli open for ventilation.
🌟 When alveoli stay open, oxygenation improves and carbon dioxide removal becomes more efficient.
🌟 This directly enhances gas exchange, which is the primary need during episodes of pulmonary congestion.
🌟 CPAP also reduces the work of breathing, helping the client ventilate more effectively while the heart failure is treated.
🌟 Improving gas exchange relieves dyspnea and decreases anxiety, which commonly accompanies poor oxygenation.
🌟 The therapy is therefore used to increase the amount of oxygen the client can absorb despite fluid-filled lungs.
🚫 Incorrect: To prevent airway collapse
🚫 Preventing airway collapse is the therapeutic purpose of CPAP in obstructive sleep apnea, not heart failure.
🚫 In left-sided HF, the issue is not airway obstruction but fluid in the alveoli preventing oxygen movement.
🚫 While CPAP does maintain airway patency, that is not the priority for this client’s pathophysiology.
🚫 Selecting this answer incorrectly shifts focus away from the need to improve gas exchange.
🚫 This option describes a secondary effect, not the main goal in HF management.
🚫 It does not address pulmonary congestion or impaired diffusion capacity.
🚫 Incorrect: To reduce pulmonary edema
🚫 CPAP cannot remove or reduce lung fluid; diuretics and afterload-reducing agents treat edema.
🚫 CPAP only supports breathing while the medications correct the underlying heart failure.
🚫 Choosing this option confuses symptom support with disease treatment.
🚫 CPAP may reduce venous return slightly, but this does NOT resolve alveolar fluid.
🚫 It improves oxygenation despite edema—it does not eliminate the edema.
🚫 Incorrect: To improve contractility of the cardiac muscle
🚫 CPAP has no direct effect on cardiac muscle strength or contractility.
🚫 Drugs like digoxin, inotropes, or ACE inhibitors are used to improve contractility—not CPAP.
🚫 This answer confuses respiratory therapy with cardiac pharmacologic therapy.
🚫 CPAP improves oxygen delivery but does not change how strongly the heart contracts.
🚫 It cannot treat the underlying pump failure causing the congestion.
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Question Details
- Category: RN Nursing Exam(s)
- Subcategory: General Exams
- Domain: Medical-surgical📚
- Answer Choices: 4