When the nurse is monitoring a patient who is undergoing exercise (stress) testing on a treadmill, which assessment finding requires the most rapid action by the nurse?
a. Patient complaint of feeling tired
b. Pulse change from 87 to 101 beats/minute
c. Blood pressure (BP) increase from 134/68 to 150/80 mm Hg
d. Newly inverted T waves on the electro-cardiogram
ANS: D
ECG changes associated with coronary ischemia (such as T-wave inversions and ST segment de-pression) indicate that the myocardium is not getting adequate oxygen delivery and that the ex-ercise test should be terminated immediately. Increases in BP and heart rate (HR) are normal re-sponses to aerobic exercise. Feeling tired is also normal as the intensity of exercise increases dur-ing the stress testing.
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