Page 2548 - Saunders Comprehensive Review For NCLEX-RN

FIG. 69-27 Pneumothorax. Air in the pleural space causes the lungs to collapse around
the hilus and may push the mediastinal contents (heart and great vessels) toward the other
lung.

Box 69-15

Assessment Findings: Pneumothorax

▪ Absent or markedly decreased breath sounds on affected side
▪ Cyanosis
▪ Decreased chest expansion unilaterally
▪ Dyspnea
▪ Hypotension
▪ Sharp chest pain
▪ Subcutaneous emphysema as evidenced by crepitus on palpation
▪ Sucking sound with open chest wound
▪ Tachycardia
▪ Tachypnea
▪ Tracheal deviation to the unaffected side with tension pneumothorax

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