Cardiovascular assessment--Part 2.

Abstract

This is the fifth part of the Care is Critical series, which looks at the more complex assessments and technological interventions nurses may now have to deal with on general wards or in the community. This article aims to provide a more in-depth understanding of assessing patients' cardiovascular function in relation to low cardiac output states in two types of patients--the post-operative patient with hypovolaemia and the patient with chronic heart failure.