Lifts, heaves, thrusts, retractions - HELP PLZ!

[all_dressed_in_white]

Hi all.

A little stressed atm. I have a clinical viva exam tomorrow which may be on cardio assessment and im still not sure of the difinitions and pathophys of lifts, heaves, thrusts and retractions. All i know is that I have to look for them on a dummy and state what i am looking for and why. But to be honest I probably wouldnt know them if i had them myself!

Im sure I read them once, but cant find anything on them now when i really need the revision.

Any suggestions would be really appreciated.

Cheers.

xx:nurse:

[Daytonite, BSN, RN]

surprisingly, i could not find these terms in my physical exam references here at home. however, i did find a couple of resources on the internet that pertained to the cardiac exam and, particularly, included information about lifts, heaves and thrusts. i could not find anything on retractions, but it isn't difficult to figure out that they are the opposite of lifts, heaves and thrusts. the definition of retraction is to "draw back" or "to draw back in". so, it seems to me that if there is a lift, heave or thrust, there is bound to be a retraction in opposite response to it.

i found several references on cardiac examination that referred to lifts, heaves, thrusts. use the "find on this page" option on your edit menu bar and type in one of the key words (lift, heave, thrust) to locate them more quickly when you navigate each page. the merck manual lists the pathologic conditions where these things occur.

hope this helps.

• http://depts.washington.edu/medclerk/student/cardiac.html - cardiac exam: benchmarks (university of washington medical school)
  
  • lift (or heave) is under the section on inspection and palpation and tells you what it means in the box below it
    

  [*]http://www.merck.com/mmpe/sec07/ch069/ch069a.html - introduction (to cardiovascular disorders)

  [*]http://www.emedicine.com/med/topic275.htm -

  • "cardiac examination may reveal abnormalities related to right ventricular failure, tricuspid regurgitation, or both.
    
    • abnormal systolic sternal or left parasternal lift signifies both pulmonary and right ventricular hypertension."
      

[all_dressed_in_white]

Thankyou SO much!!! I got through the exam without definitions, but I'll still check it out because I'd like to know.

Again, I really appreciate your response.

Cheers.