The client has returned to the surgery unit from the postanesthesia care unit (pacu). the client's respirations are rapid and shallow, the pulse is 120 bpm, and the blood pressure is 88/52 mm hg. the client's level of consciousness is declining. the nurse should first:

the oxygenated blood then leaves the lungs through pulmonary veins, which return it to the left heart, completing the pulmonary cycle. this blood then enters the left atrium, which pumps it through the mitral valve into the left ventricle. from the left ventricle, the blood passes through the aortic valve to the aorta.

deoxygenated blood leaves through the right ventricle through the pulmonary artery. from the right atrium, the blood is pumped through the tricuspid valve (or right atrioventricular valve), into the right ventricle.