Family Nurse Practitioner Exam

Disable ads (and more) with a membership for a one time $2.99 payment

Study for the Family Nurse Practitioner Exam. Discover comprehensive flashcards and multiple-choice questions with thorough hints and explanations. Prepare confidently for your certification!

Each practice test/flash card set has 50 randomly selected questions from a bank of over 500. You'll get a new set of questions each time!

Practice this question and more.

Which heart sound is referred to as "an opening snap"?

A) S1
B) S2
C) S3
D) S4

The correct answer is: C) S3

The heart sound commonly referred to as "an opening snap" is the third heart sound (S3). This sound is associated with the rapid filling of the ventricles during diastole, which occurs when blood flows from the atria to the ventricles. The "opening snap" specifically refers to a sound that can occur with the opening of the mitral valve during this rapid filling, giving rise to a distinct sound that is often heard in conditions like mitral stenosis. In a normal heart, S1 (the first heart sound) and S2 (the second heart sound) correspond to the closure of the heart valves during the cardiac cycle, while S4 is associated with atrial contraction. Neither S1, S2, nor S4 has a characteristic sound that resembles an opening snap. Therefore, recognizing S3 as the sound associated with rapid ventricular filling helps to understand its role in assessing cardiac function and diagnosing potential heart conditions.