Physical Assessment

~ Exam ~

Nurses Research Publication now provides real-time grading and a real-time certificate for this online course.  To take the test, click on the button corresponding to the correct answer for each question.  When you're done, click on the "Grade Test" button.

You will be asked to login (if you are a returning customer) or register (if you are a new customer) and pay $59.00 for the processing of your test and certificate. You will be given your test results instantly and you will be able to print out your certificate immediately from your browser.

You must correctly answer 18 of 25 questions. If needed, you may retake the exam. Please complete the evaluation form that will appear on your screen after passing the exam.

Your test will be graded online right away, and upon passing you will be able to immediately print out your certificate.  We would appreciate it if you could take a few minutes to complete the evaluation form that will appear on your screen after passing the exam.

Occasionally computers fail. Thus you may wish to print the exam, mark the answers on the printed copy, then transfer those answers to the computer when you're ready to submit the exam for scoring. Once the exam is completed successfully, you will no longer be able to access this course (unless you pay for the course again).

This test has 25 questions.

All questions must be answered before the test can be graded.

Already taken the test? Click here to login and retrieve your answers.
1. Which should be obtained before beginning assessment of the lungs and thorax?
  a. Lung sounds
  b. Tidal volume
  c. Heart sounds
  d. Patient’s insurance

  e. Patient history

2. Tidal volume is described as the volume of air in and out of the lungs with:
  a. Forced inspiration
  b. Normal inspiration
  c. Forced expiration

  d. Forced inspiration and expiration
3. In the normal adult, the total lung capacity is the estimated to be approximately

  a. 1,300 cc
  b. 2,200 cc

  c. 2,500 cc
  d. 3,900 cc

  e. 5,800 cc

4. In examining the thorax, the gross assessment of visual inspection would include the notation of:
  a. Gross deformities
  b. Rate and lung sounds
  c. Lung sounds

  d. Speech pattern
  e. Heart sounds

5. The normal adult respiratory rate is about _____________ breaths per minute
  a. 5-8
  b. 7-9

  c. 10-12

  d. 12-18

  e. 16-24

6. During palpation of the thorax, you should assess the intercostal spaces for
  a. Tenderness and retractions

  b. Swelling and color changes
  c. Bulging or retractions
  d. Scars of swelling

7. The lung sound that is considered “normal” lung sounds when purcussing is
  a. Rales

  b. Rhonchi

  c. Flat sound
  d. Dull sound
  e. Resonant sound

8. The intensity of auscultated lung sounds is also called:
  a. Loudness
  b. Rales
  c. Resonant sound
  d. Quality

  e. Amplitude

9. Vesicular breath sounds are of low pitch and are heard over:
  a. Most of normal lung tissue
  b. Consolidated lung tissue

  c. The trachea
10. This type of breath sound is caused by uneven flow of air in the airway:
  a. Rales
  b. Turbulence
  c. Resonant Sound
  d. Tracheal Breath Sounds

  e. Rhochi
11. When this disorder is present, there is decreased expansion on affected side, and the trachea is shifted away from the affected side
  a. Pneumothorax

  b. Pleural effusion
  c. Homothorax
  d. Stelectasis

  e. Consolidation
12. This breath sound is caused by air traveling through a narrowed passage or by mucus in the passages:
  a. Rales
  b. Cognition
  c. Reasoning
  d. Judgment

  e. Cooperation

13. Assessing mental status includes intellectual functioning, this refers to:
  a. Memory
  b. Cognition
  c. Reasoning

  d. Judgment
  e. Cooperation

14. Abstract reasoning disorder means the person cannot think in the abstract. They have the disorder of:
  a. Concrete thinking

  b. Disorientation

  c. Concrete reasoning
  d. Poor short term memory

15. In neurosis, the person is in touch with reality, however, the condition may:
  a. Become worse

  b. Become overtly neurotic
  c. Lead to a memory disorder

  d. Become abstract

16. A delusion is defined as:
  a. False hallucination

  b. Seeing something that is not there
  c. False belief
  d. Hearing something that is not there

17. The difference between a hallucination and an illusion is that with illusions there is always a ______ present.
  a. Vision

  b. Stimulus
  c. Sensation
  d. Doctor

  e. Neurosis
18. The best way to chart that the patient is in a “good mood” is: the patient is ______
  a. In good spirits
  b. Is cooperative
  c. In a good mood
  d. Is ambivalent
19. A symptom of chronic OBS would be:
  a. Irritable

  b. Anxious
  c. Fearful

  d. Constant hallucinations

20. The nervous system that is composed of the sympathetic and parasympathetic systems is the:
  a. Peripheral system

  b. Autonomic system
  c. Central nervous system

  d. Cranial nervous system

21. 21. The nervous system that is responsible for the special senses is the _____ nervous system.
  a. Cranial
  b. Autonomic
  c. Peripheral
  d. Central

  e. Cerebral

22. This test is an imaging test and provides for a cross-sectional view of the skull, showing various densities:
  a. EEG
  b. EMG
  c. CAT study
  d. Myelogram
  e. Angiogram

23. This test outlines the subarachnoid space and shows the presence of tumors:
  a. EEG
  b. EMG
  c. CAT study
  d. Myelogram
  e. Angiogram

24. This test requires needle electrodes to be placed into skeletal muscles in order to study electrical impulses:
  a. EEG
  b. EMG
  c. CAT study
  d. Myelogram

  e. Angiogram

25. Early symptoms of a brain tumor usually include:
  a. Headache, mania

  b. Nausea, vomiting

  c. Confusion, lethargy
  d. Headache, myalgia