nursing diagnosis

a left heart cath is a medical procedure. it is one of the types of cardiac catheterizations.

a nursing diagnosis is based on the patient's responses to their environment or medical conditions. that should give you a big hint that to care plan for a medical procedure means you need to assess the patient for why the procedure is being done, the patient's teaching needs connected with the procedure and addressing any risks and complications. if you read any of my posts on care planning i always tell students to begin the care planning process by assessing the patient. in the case of a procedure:

• reviewing the pathophysiology, signs and symptoms and complications of their medical condition - what heart condition is present or suspected?
  
  • http://www.columbia-stmarys.com/content.asp?pageid=p00241 - columbia-st. mary's cardiovascular department online information index page
    
  • http://www.stmarkshospital.com/healthcontent.asp?page=/contentselection/hca/heart/index - st. mark's hospital heart care center cardiovascular page
    

  [*]reviewing the signs, symptoms and side effects of the treatments that has been ordered - the procedure is the left heart cath, so look up this procedure, what it entails and its complications. the patient may need some preparation and teaching.

  • http://www.columbia-stmarys.com/content.asp?pageid=p00203 - cardiac catheterization
    
  • http://www.stmarkshospital.com/healthcontent.asp?page=/contentselection/hca/heart/index - cardiac catheterization
    
  • http://www.medicinenet.com/cardiac_catheterization/article.htm - heart disease: diagnosing heart disease: cardiac catheterization
    
  • http://www.webmd.com/heart-disease/cardiac-catheterization - cardiac catheterization
    

a nursing diagnosis is based upon any signs and symptoms the patient has (or may have). "risk for" diagnoses may be most appropriate in this case.