Assignment Task: Please answer the following questions in relation to blood pressure and cardiac output.
You leap into action when an alarm sounds from a room down the hall on the cardiac ward. Once the patient emergency has subsided, you think back to your days as a student nurse and remember fondly when you learned about cardiac output equaling heart rate multiplied by stroke volume (CO = HR x SV).
a. Standing rapidly from a seated position will elicit which neural response in relation to blood pressure?
b. What is venous return? How does an increase in venous return affect stroke volume? What effect does this have on cardiac output? Explain the mechanism clearly and how the change in cardiac output can influence blood pressure.