PCCN Progressive Care Certified Nursing

Answer: C - The most likely investigation to be carried out on the patient experiencing pleuritic chest pain but showing no distress, and whose examination reveals an almost silent chest, is a Chest x-ray (PA view). That will show the exact cause of absent breath sounds in the chest. As the patient is a smoker, the chance of Spontaneous Pneumothorax should always be ruled out by having a look at the chest x-ray.