Pulmonary function tests

Define and summarize one of the following. Support your answer with two or three peer-reviewed resources.

Pulmonary function tests, including discussion of how tests are ordered, why specific tests are ordered, and how the test results are interpreted.
Thoracentesis, including discussion of the indications, lab tests needed prior to the procedure, and lab tests that can be ordered based on the resulting pleural fluid.
Explain exudative versus transudative fluid with respect to pleural fluid.
Describe a VATS procedure.
Explain what atypical pneumonias are and how they are treated.
Explain “amiodarone lung.”
Discuss various sources that may serve as etiologies for asbestos exposure. Keep in mind that many patients are elderly, and some of their exposures no longer exist as a result of OSHA but can still create lung disease.
Explain what chemical, pharmaceutical, or environmental exposures can be harmful to the pulmonary system historically and currently.
Differentiate hemothorax and pneumothorax (including spontaneous and traumatic).
Explain pneumonitis: how it occurs, presents, including imaging findings, is treated.
Explain how COPD can result in a pneumothorax.
Discuss indications for bronchoscopy and how the patient must be prepared for this procedure, including coagulation studies, readiness for sedation, and airway invasion.
Explain the process of liberating a patient from a ventilator.
Explain at what point a ventilator patient must be converted from an endotracheal tube to a tracheostomy tube