Cardiovascular/Pulmonary: Case 1

Objectives - Case 1 - Harris

• Get an overview of the cardiovascular system including the overall design, physics of blood flow, material transport, the vasculature, and the blood.
• Describe the characteristics of cardiac muscle cells, including their electrical and mechanical properties.
• Evaluate the basic electrical and mechanical events of the cardiac cycle including the distinct phases of the cardiac cycle, pressure and volume changes in different chambers and determinants of cardiac output.
• Recognize the different techniques of assessing cardiac mechanical activity including echocardiography.
• Calculate cardiac output using the Fick principle.
• Appreciate the consequences of common cardiac abnormalities including common cardiac arrhythmias and common cardiac valve abnormalities.
• Explain the basic principles of cardiovascular transport and its role in maintaining homeostasis.
• Identify the physical factors that regulate blood flow through and blood volume in the various components of the vasculature.
• Explain the general mechanisms involved in local vascular control and know the dominant mechanisms of flow and blood volume control in the major body organs.
• Evaluate how central venous pressure can be used to assess circulatory status and how venous return, cardiac output, and central venous pressure are interrelated.
• Explain the primary mechanisms involved in the short-term regulation of arterial pressure including the sensory receptors, afferent pathways, central integrating centers, efferent pathways, and effector organs that participate in the arterial baroreceptor reflex.
• Explain the role of the kidney in long-term arterial pressure regulation including the influence of changes in body fluid volume on arterial pressure and diagram the steps involved in this process.
• Identify the general mechanisms involved in the cardiovascular responses to any given normal homeostatic disturbance in the intact cardiovascular system and predict the resulting alterations in all important cardiovascular variables.
• Describe how respiratory activities influence the cardiovascular system.
• Describe the specific processes associated with homeostatic adjustments to the effects of gravity and exercise.
• Recognize the cardiovascular alterations that accompany pregnancy, birth, growth, and aging.
  Explain the primary disturbances, compensatory responses, decompensatory processes, and possible therapeutic interventions that pertain to various abnormal cardiovascular situations including circulatory shock.