Editing Nursing Skills and Procedures – RN Practice Questions (section)

==Question 14==
A client with acute respiratory distress is receiving oxygen at 10 L/min by nonrebreather mask. The nurse observes that the reservoir bag collapses completely with each inspiration. Which action should the nurse take?
# Change the client to a Venturi mask at 40 percent.
# Increase the oxygen flow rate until the bag remains partially inflated.
# Remove one of the one-way exhalation valves from the mask.
# Document the finding as an expected function of the device.

'''Answer:''' 2 (B). Increase the oxygen flow rate until the bag remains partially inflated.

''Rationale:'' Complete collapse of the reservoir bag means the client's inspiratory demand exceeds the delivered flow, so room air is being entrained and the delivered oxygen concentration falls. Increasing the flow, typically to 15 L/min or higher as needed, restores the reservoir. Option 1 lowers the delivered concentration in a client with acute severe hypoxemia. Option 3 destroys the device's ability to deliver a high concentration and is unsafe. Option 4 is incorrect, since the bag should never fully collapse.