ARTIKLID LÕPUTÖÖDEST
SÜDAME VASAKU VATSAKESE TÖÖD TOETAVA SEADMEGA (LVAD) PATSIENTIDE ENAMLEVINUD TÜSISTUSED NING NENDE ENNETAMISEGA SEOTUD ÕENDUSABI JA PATSIENDIÕPETUS Most Common Complications of Patients with a Left Ventricular Assist Device and the Nursing Care and Patient Education Necessary to Avoid Them Lembi Caroline Nohrin, Reet Urban Abstract The best treatment for advanced and irreversible heart failure is heart transplantation. However, the amount of heart donors is limited and often the patient has to wait a long time for a transplant or does not receive a transplant at all. Mechanical circulatory support devices have been created to improve the patients’ quality of life and to give other organ systems a chance to recover. An LVAD (left ventricular assist device) is the most common type of mechanical circulatory assist devices. The aim of the study was to describe the most common complications in patients with an LVAD, prevention of those complications and patient education related to avoiding complications. The study was based on evidence-based literature and consisted of analysing evidence-based literature found to solve the research problem and composing a thematically structured review. Research articles published between 2012-2019 and available as full text in scientific databases were used to compose this review. The number of patients with an LVAD is continuously increasing and nurses working in different departments have to be ready to care for those patients. Therefore, it is important that nurses are aware of potential complications and their prevention options, as well as have the ability to educate patients and their caregivers on the subject. The most common complications after an LVAD 62
