Adult Critical Care Specialty (ACCS) Practice Exam

The assessment of shock type in a patient who has experienced an ATV collision involves understanding the physiological changes happening in response to injury. In this scenario, selecting distributive shock suggests that the patient is experiencing a malfunction in the body's ability to regulate blood flow effectively, often due to significant vasodilation and altered vascular tone. Distributive shock can arise from various causes such as severe infections (septic shock), neurogenic shock, or anaphylactic reactions, where the blood vessels dilate and blood volume is not effectively utilized by the circulatory system, leading to inadequate perfusion of organs. In the context of an ATV collision, it's possible that the patient could exhibit signs of neurogenic shock if there is a spinal injury, which would also cause loss of sympathetic tone and vasodilation. In this type of shock, the circulation is compromised despite adequate or high blood volume because of the inability of blood vessels to constrict properly. This results in decreased effective circulating volume, even if overall blood volume may appear normal. This understanding clarifies why distributive shock is the correct answer, particularly in trauma cases where the assessment reveals changes consistent with vasodilation and insufficient perfusion, potentially coupled with the mechanism of injury that could affect neurological control. Other