Nursing care of a female patient with acute coronary syndrome following percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI)

Introduction: Acute coronary syndrome (ACS) is due to acute ischaemia of the cardiac muscle, which results from a sudden obstruction of the blood flow in the coronary circulation. A life-threatening condition, it is one of the most common causes of illness and death.

Objectives: To present the ACS patient's health condition, nursing diagnoses and actions, and the results of nursing care of the patient following percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) during hospitalization.

Material and methods: The study involved a female patient with acute coronary syndrome following primary PCI. The individual case study method was used.

Results and conclusions: Having analyzed the patient's health condition, a number of nursing diagnoses were made. These included the patient's weakness, pain in the upper limb, the feeling of numbness, cooling, hand oedema as a result of applying a pressure dressing; difficulty breathing due to obstruction in the pulmonary circulation; urine retention resulting in pain; impaired carbohydrate metabolism; restricted physical activity and self-care deficiency; the patient's insufficient knowledge concerning necessary changes in the lifestyle following acute coronary syndrome. Potential nursing diagnoses included the risk of occurrence of ventricular arrhythmia, bleeding complications and renal dysfunction. Then the aims of nursing care were established, the performed nursing actions were presented and their results assessed. The patient's condition was stable; there were no complications and the patient was prepared to live following acute coronary syndrome.