Authors

• Alen Baćar — Klinički bolnički centar Zagreb, Zagreb, Hrvatska
• Jelena Petrović — Klinički bolnički centar Zagreb, Zagreb, Hrvatska — ORCID: 0000-0002-6354-1539

Keywords

heart failure, nursing care, intracardiac pump

DOI

Full Text

Heart failure (HF) is a clinical syndrome resulting from functional and structural abnormality of the heart which disrupts filling its tissue with blood and fails to meet the organism’s metabolic needs. It is one of the main issues in public health and leads to an increasing prevalence in the population. ( 1 ) Management of the HF includes conservative treatment, heart transplantation and mechanical circulatory support. One of such mechanical circulatory supports is the intracardiac left ventricular assist pump - Impella. Intracardiac pump is a surgically implanted miniaturized axial pump that extracts blood from the left ventricle and sends it to the aorta delivering oxygen filled blood to the rest of the body. Common indications for implanting an intracardiac pump are acute myocardial infarction with cardiogenic shock and in implanting a high risk coronary angioplasty. Nursing a patient with an intracardiac pump is a complicated area in nursing that demands continuous education, recent data monitoring, a more holistic approach and professional cooperation with other members of the team. Main tasks for a nurse taking care of a patient with an implanted intracardiac pump are regular assessments, supervising, monitoring and recording vital signs, recognizing early signs of complications and working using the aseptic technique. Education and teamwork of all health personnel are directed towards recognizing the problem, methods of treating the patient and educating their families. The role of the nurse is to offer support, recognize and react to a problem, teach the patient all the skills and to adapt to a new situation.