When Palpating the Abdomen to Determine a Floating Mass, a Nurse

question 22

Multiple Choice

When palpating the abdomen to determine a floating mass, a nurse presses on the abdomen at a 90-degree angle with the fingertips. Which finding indicates a mass?

• A) An increase in abdominal girth.
• B) A complaint from the patient of a dull pain in the flank area.
• C) A freely movable mass will float upward and touch the fingertips.
• D) Fluid in the abdomen will shift upward and touch the fingertips.

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Definitions:

Endocytosis

The active transport of substances into the cell by the formation of invaginated regions of the plasma membrane that pinch off and become cytoplasmic vesicles.

Cotransport

The active transport of a substance from a region of low concentration to a region of high concentration by coupling its transport to the transport of a substance down its concentration gradient.

Concentration Gradient

A gradual change in the concentration of solutes in a solution as a function of distance through a solution.

ATP

Adenosine Triphosphate, a molecule that stores and transfers energy within cells, crucial for many cellular processes.