Acute decompensated heart failure: a study of nursing care

This care study focuses on the initial acute phase of care for a patient with acutely decompensated heart failure. Heart failure is a syndrome characterised by clinical signs, such as pulmonary oedema, and symptoms, such as dyspnoea. Acute heart failure develops rapidly and requires urgent medical attention, unlike the slower insidious onset of chronic heart failure. Acute heart failure can be either new or acute decompensation of chronic heart failure. The patient presented with cardiogenic pulmonary oedema because of acute decompensation of his chronic heart failure. He agreed to medical management, which included continuous positive airway pressure, intra-arterial cannulation and a furosemide infusion. This treatment proved largely effective, but it may have been better if his furosemide infusion had been stopped sooner. The implications for practice are explored in this care study.