Nursing Education Site
Cardiovascular disorders are a major focus in both NCLEX prep and clinical practice, and nurses must quickly recognize cardiac problems and plan safe, effective care.
This page brings together our cardiac nursing diagnoses and care plans so you can easily find assessment cues, nursing interventions, and rationales for the most common heart conditions.
Start with the list of individual cardiac diagnoses and care plans below (pericarditis, myocardial infarction, heart failure, CABG, dysrhythmias, etc.).
Open each care plan to review: definition, causes, signs and symptoms, nursing assessment, priority interventions with rationales, and expected outcomes.
Use the examples as a study guide for NCLEX and as a reference when developing care plans in clinical settings.
Assessment Cues and Diagnostics:Nursing assessment focuses on rapidly identifying signs of dissection. Watch for sudden, intense chest or upper back pain often described by the patient as tearing or ripping; the pain may radiate to the neck, jaw, or arms. Check for differences in blood pressure between arms (a gap >20 mmHg is concerning) and … See Nursing Diagnoses
Pulmonary edema is a life-threatening condition where fluid accumulates in the lungs’ air sacs, leading to impaired gas exchange and breathing difficulty. It often develops suddenly and requires prompt nursing assessment and intervention. There are two main forms of pulmonary edema: cardiogenic (due to heart problems like left-sided heart failure or myocardial infarction) and noncardiogenic … See Nursing Diagnoses
Myocardial infarction (MI), or heart attack, is a life-threatening event in which blood flow to a section of the heart muscle is abruptly reduced or cut off. This typically occurs when a coronary artery is blocked by a blood clot due to ruptured plaque from coronary artery disease. The result is ischemia (lack of oxygen) … See Nursing Diagnoses
Tachycardia is defined as a heart rate over 100 beats per minute at rest. It can be a normal physiological response to exercise or stress, but persistent or unexplained tachycardia is a concern. When the heart beats too fast, it may not pump blood effectively, leading to decreased cardiac output and inadequate perfusion of organs. … See Nursing Diagnoses
Atrial fibrillation (AFib) is a common cardiac arrhythmia characterized by a rapid, irregular heartbeat that can reduce the heart’s pumping efficiency. In AFib, the upper chambers of the heart (atria) quiver chaotically instead of contracting effectively, leading to an “irregularly irregular” pulse. This disturbance in rhythm often results in decreased cardiac output and pooling of … See Nursing Diagnoses