Many patients admitted to acute care areas of a hospital experience cardiovascular compromise due to conditions such as acute myocardial infarction (AMI), acute coronary syndrome or exacerbations of chronic heart failure. Additionally, patients can experience cardiovascular collapse due to bleeding or cardiac arrhythmias postoperatively. As a consequence, nurses in acute care settings need to be competent in assessing the cardiovascular status of adult patients. The authors provide a framework for assessing the cardiovascular status of patients in acute care settings using the determinants of cardiac output. They provide a brief review of the determinants of cardiac output before discussing both the aims of cardiovascular assessment and how to perform, such an assessment. (non- author abstract)
History
Journal
Collegian: journal of the Royal College of Nursing Australia
Volume
12
Pagination
34 - 40
Location
Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Open access
Yes
ISSN
1322-7696
eISSN
1876-7575
Language
eng
Notes
Reproduced with the specific permission of the copyright owner.