When assessing a newly admitted patient, the nurse notes a murmur along the left sternal border. To document more information about the murmur, which action will the nurse take next?
a. Find the point of maximal impulse.
b. Determine the timing of the murmur.
c. Compare the apical and radial pulse rates.
d. Palpate the quality of the peripheral puls-es.
ANS: B
Murmurs are caused by turbulent blood flow, such as occurs when blood flows through a dam-aged valve. Relevant information includes the position in which the murmur is heard best (e.g., sitting and leaning forward), the timing of the murmur in relation to the cardiac cycle (e.g., sys-tole, diastole), and where on the thorax the murmur is heard best. The other information is also important in the cardiac assessment but will not provide information that is relevant to the mur-mur.
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