Final Exam Study Guide
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Know Respiratory therapy organizations and their responsibilities
o AARC
o COARC
o NBRC
o RCB of California
o CSRC
Know the basic functions of a respiratory therapist
o Patient assessment
o Delivering aerosolized medications…
Know the basic structure of a hospital and RT department
Know what ATPS is and when it is used
Know what BTPS is and STPD
Know the critical temperature of Oxygen (critical temperature is -183)
What temperature is necessary to liquefy oxygen at 1 atm pressure (-183C)
Temperature conversions
What temperature does all kinetic activity cease
Heat transfer terms (conduction, convection, radiation)
Definition for evaporation, sublimation, saturation and condensation
Viscosity and its relation to flow
Capillary action, convex vs concave what does it mean (When the liquid is water, the meniscus
is concave because the water molecules at the surface adhere to the glass more strongly than
they cohere to each other. In contrast, a mercury meniscus is convex. In this case, the cohesive
forces pulling together the mercury atoms exceed the adhesive forces trying to attract the
mercury to the glass)
Surface tension
Boiling point, dew point, melting point
Properties of gases and liquids
Know the difference between humidity and aerosol
Be able to calculate relative humidity/Body Humidity and humidity deficit
Know normal values in the lung for water vapor pressure, content and body humidity
Know that the direct measure of kinetic activity of water vapor molecules is done so with water
vapor pressure
Physical concept of pressure (force / unit area)
Know what a mole is and when Avogadro’s number is used
Know how to calculate density of Helium, O2 and Nitrogen
Know normal vales for Avogadro’s Law
Know definition for, Cohesion, Diffusion
CO2 is more soluble in plasma than O2, know why
Know the following Laws/Principles:
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Grahams Law (Mathematically, the rate of diffusion of a gas is inversely proportional to
the square root of its gram molecular weight. According to this principle, lighter gases
diffuse rapidly, whereas heavy gases diffuse more slowly. Moreover, because diffusion is
based on kinetic activity, anything that increases molecular activity will quicken
diffusion; thus, heating and mechanical agitation speed diffusion)
Ficks law
Henry’s Law (predicts how much of a given gas will dissolve in a liquid. According to this
principle, at a given temperature, the volume of a gas that dissolves in a liquid is equal
to its solubility coefficient times its partial pressure)
Pascals Principle
Poiseuille Principle (the pressure needed to drive a fluid through a tube will increase if
fluid viscosity increases, the tube radius decreases; increasing resistance; The difference
in pressure required to produce a given flow, under conditions of laminar flow through a
smooth tube of fixed size, is defined by Poiseuille’s law: Change in pressure P = 8nl /
r4 ,where P is the driving pressure gradient, n is the viscosity of the fluid, l is the tube
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length, is the fluid flow, r is the tube radius, and and 8 are constants)
o Bernoulli/Venturi Principle: (When a fluid flows through a tube of uniform diameter,
pressure decreases progressively over the tube length. When the fluid passes through a
constriction, the pressure drop is much greater. This large pressure drop can be
observed in the fourth water column in Figure 6-24. The eighteenth-century scientist
Daniel Bernoulli was the first to carefully study this effect, which now bears his name.
According to the law of continuity, as the fluid moves into the narrow or constricted
portion of the tube, its velocity must increase (vb > va). According to the Bernoulli
theorem, the higher velocity at point b should result in a lower lateral pressure at that
point (Pb <Pa). Thus, as a fluid flows through the constriction, its velocity increases and
its lateral pressure decreases)
o Continuity
o Daltons Law (Dalton’s law describes the relationship among the partial pressure and the
total pressure in a gas mixture. According to this law, the total pressure of a mixture of
gases must equal the sum of the partial pressures of all component gases. Moreover,
the principle states that the partial pressure of a component gas must be proportional
to its percentage in the mixture)
o Boyles
o Charles
o Combined/Ideal gas law
o Coanda
Know basic function of an air-entrainment device
Partial pressures (know how to calculate partial pressure of O2, Nitrogen in the atmosphere and
the lung
Know normal values for PAO2
Flow patterns (laminar, turbulent, transitional) and Reynolds number
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Characteristics of gases and liquids
Heliox factors 1.8 (80% and 20% mixture) and 1.6 (70% and 30% mixture)
Know what isotonic, hypertonic and hypotonic mean
Review the infection control power point
o Know what a HAI is; who is most at risk and related statistics
o Know what VAP is and related statistics
o Know what the primary route of transmission is and how transmission can be prevented
o Know what a fomite is
o How is infection spread? What must be present for it to spread?
o What would increase the chance of infection transmission?
o What is MRSA? C-Diff? VRE? Pseudomonas?
o What is the most common portal of entry of infection in the body?
o How is infection prevented?
o Know each isolation type; droplet, contact and airborne, reverse isolation, what
equipment is required for each
o How is equipment sterilized? Review the chart on power point (ETO, alcohol,
hydrochlorofluocarbon, autoclave, incineration…)
o What are the advantages for disposable equipment
o What is the first step in equipment processing for reuse on another patient?
o When do we wipe equipment with 70% ethyl alcohol?
HIPAA
o What does it stand for?
o Review the power point questions
o What information is protected by HIPAA?
o Do patients have the right to see their charts?
Patient Safety/Documentation
o What are common patient safety issues in the hospital
o What is the most common cause of adverse reactions in the hospital
o Why do we document everything we do in the hospital?
o What is SOAP, POMR, SBAR
o What are the benefits of EMR charting?
o What are two patient identifiers?
o What is PHI?
o Know the components of a chart (Laboratory, consultations, H&P, MAR…what is
included in each?)
Know all ethical terms
o 1. nonmaleficence
o 2. autonomy
o 3. justice
o 4. role fidelity
o 5. benevolent deception
o 6. double effect
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o 7. Beneficence
o 8. Distributive justice
o 9. Role duty
o 10. Compensatory justice
o 11. Consequentialism
o 12. Virtue ethics
o 13. Negligence: know what is required to validate a claim
o 14. Tort
o 15.Res ipsa loquitur
o 16. Malpractice
o 17. Battery
o 18. Assault
o 19. Slander
o 20. Libel
Patient’s right to privacy, basics of HIPAA
Know when confidentiality can be breeched
Advance directives, living wills, durable power of attorney