title: Symbion acute ventricular assist device: nursing challenge.
abstract: A cardiac patient is rapidly deteriorating and facing imminent death. The medical team decides to insert an experimental ventricular assist device (VAD) to perform the work of the dying heart. How can the critical care nurse best care for a patient with this challenging and unyielding diagnosis?
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Miller
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Pitz
mesh_terms: D001243:Assisted Circulation / Q000451:nursing*; D001510:Bed Rest / Q000009:adverse effects; D002302:Cardiac Output; D006353:Heart-Assist Devices / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000451:nursing* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D007239:Infections / Q000451:nursing; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D008991:Monitoring, Physiologic; D010347:Patient Care Planning; D012121:Respiration, Artificial / Q000451:nursing; D012815:Signal Processing, Computer-Assisted