A nurse is making a plan of care for a patient with an atrial septal defect. Upon assessment, the nurse expected to find

Explanation

• An ASD is an abnormal communication between the two atria, allowing blood to shift from the left to the right atrium.

• A murmur is heard over the pulmonic area because the extra amount of blood that crosses the pulmonic valve makes it close later than the aortic valve. The second heart sound will be split and fixed.

• Dyspnea and fatigue occur due to blood being shunted away from the systemic circulation and into the pulmonic circulation.

• A child with a loud machine murmur, poor feeding, and fatigue is characteristic of patent ductus arteriosus.

• A patient with coarctation of aorta has absent femoral pulses, epistaxis, and lower leg muscle cramps.

• A characteristic murmur and mild cyanosis are found in patients with an atrioventricular septal defect.

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