This process involves exchanging oxygen and carbon dioxide with the bloodstream

Your patient is a 30-year-old construction worker who fell from scaffolding and has been impaled through the right orbit by a 36-inch piece of concrete reinforcement bar. The patient responds to verbal stimuli and appears to have multiple other injuries. Which of the following is the BEST course of action?

A) Firmly stabilize the reinforcement bar in place so that the rescue crew can cut it short. B) Transport with the reinforcement bar in place to prevent delay at the scene. C) Test the reinforcement bar for stability and remove it only if it is loose enough to be easily pulled from the wound. D) Remove the reinforcement bar and pack the orbit with sterile moist dressings to keep the scene time under 10 minutes.

Signs and symptoms of respiratory distress include all of the following EXCEPT:

a. tachypnea. c. upright posturing. b. use of accessory muscles. d. wheezing or rales on auscultation.