A 46-Year-Old Man Comes to the Emergency Department Due to Shortness

question 403

Multiple Choice

A 46-year-old man comes to the emergency department due to shortness of breath, cough, and fever.  The patient began experiencing mild upper respiratory illness a week ago.  He has a history of asthma and was using inhaled bronchodilators more frequently since the onset of respiratory illness.  Over the past 2 days, he has had worsening breathlessness, productive cough, and high fever.  The patient has no other medical conditions.  Temperature is 38.9 C (102 F) , blood pressure is 90/60 mm Hg, pulse is 120/min, and respirations are 28/min.  On physical examination, the patient appears in severe respiratory distress with intercostal retractions.  Lung auscultation reveals bilateral wheezing.  Prompt endotracheal intubation for respiratory support is planned.  Prior to endotracheal intubation, intravenous ketamine is administered for induction of anesthesia.  Which of the following characteristics is the most likely reason for use of this anesthetic agent in this patient?

• A)Direct GABA agonism
• B)Lower lipid solubility
• C)Metabolism by plasma enzymes
• D)Neuromuscular blockade effect
• E)Sympathomimetic activity

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Definitions:

Sequential Search

A searching algorithm that checks each element in a list one by one until the desired element is found or the list ends.

Unordered List

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Key Comparisons

Operations in algorithms and data structures where the values of keys are compared to find, insert, or delete elements.

Binary Search

A method that quickly locates an element within a sorted collection by consistently halving the search range.