[Pain scale: implementation for patients in the immediate postoperative period of cardiac surgery].

A clinical intervention study was developed in a hospital specialized in cardiology in Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil, with the objective of evaluating the implementation of the pain scale in post-operative cardiac surgery patients. It was developed in four steps: pre-test on pain, training lecture for nursing staff, and, reapplication of the pre-test at 30 and 60 days. The test consisted of ten questions weighing one point each.

Aggressive fluid and sodium restriction in acute decompensated heart failure: a randomized clinical trial.

Importance: The benefits of fluid and sodium restriction in patients hospitalized with acute decompensated heart failure (ADHF) are unclear.

Objective: To compare the effects of a fluid-restricted (maximum fluid intake, 800 mL/d) and sodium-restricted (maximum dietary intake, 800 mg/d) diet (intervention group [IG]) vs a diet with no such restrictions (control group [CG]) on weight loss and clinical stability during a 3-day period in patients hospitalized with ADHF.

Design: Randomized, parallel-group clinical trial with blinded outcome assessments.

[Consensus on nursing diagnoses, interventions and outcomes for home care of patients with heart failure].

This was a consensus study with six cardiology nurses with the objective of selecting nursing diagnoses, outcomes and interventions described by NANDA International (NANDA-I), Nursing Outcomes Classification (NOC), Nursing Intervention Classification (NIC), for home care of patients with heart failure (HF). Eight nursing diagnoses (NDs) were pre-selected and a consensus was achieved in three stages, during which interventions/activities and outcomes/indicators of each NDs were validated and those considered valid obtained 70% to 100% consensus. From the eight pre-selected NDs, two were excluded due to the lack of consensus on appropriate interventions for the clinical home care scenario.

Comparison of self-care behaviors of heart failure patients in 15 countries worldwide.

Objective: Clinicians worldwide seek to educate and support heart failure patients to engage in self-care. We aimed to describe self-care behaviors of patients from 15 countries across three continents.

Methods: Data on self-care were pooled from 5964 heart failure patients from the United States, Europe, Australasia and South America.

Home visit improves knowledge, self-care and adhesion in heart failure: Randomized Clinical Trial HELEN-I.

Objective: To verify the effect of an educative nursing intervention composed of home visits and phone calls on patients' knowledge about the disease, self-care and adhesion to the treatment.

Methods: Randomized clinical trial with patients with recent hospitalization caused by decompensated heart failure. There were two groups: the intervention group, which has received four home visits and four phone calls to reinforce the guidelines during six months of follow up; and the control group, which has received conventional follow up with no visits or phone calls.

Evaluation of pain and accuracy diagnostic in hospitalized children.

Purpose: Acute pain occurs in over 50% of hospitalized children. The accuracy of this diagnosis has been underexplored in the literature, as has the role of training to implement pain assessment. This study analyzed the accuracy of acute pain diagnoses after the implementation of a systematic evaluation of pain (study intervention).

Cross-cultural adaptation and validation of the European Heart Failure Self-Care Behavior Scale for Brazilian Portuguese.

Objective: To adapt and validate a Brazilian Portuguese version of the European Heart Failure Self-Care Behavior Scale.

Methods: The cross-cultural adaptation (translation, synthesis, back-translation, expert committee review, and pretesting) and validation (assessment of face validity, content validity, and internal consistency reliability) were carried out in accordance with the literature. The European Heart Failure Self-Care Behavior Scale assesses key components of self-care: recognition of the signs and symptoms of decompensated heart failure (HF) and decision-making when these signs and symptoms arise.

A clinical validation study of impaired physical mobility of patients submitted to cardiac catheterization.

Purpose:   To conduct a Fehring model-based clinical validation of the defining characteristics of the nursing diagnosis of impaired physical mobility in a sample of 250 patients.

Method:   Cross-sectional study.

Findings:   Three of the 11 NANDA-International defining characteristics assessed in this study were validated: limited range of motion, limited ability to perform gross motor skills, and difficulty turning.

Cross-cultural adaptation of the Quality of Diagnoses, Interventions and Outcomes (Q-DIO) instrument into Brazilian Portuguese.

Purpose:   To describe the cross-cultural adaptation of the Quality of Diagnoses, Interventions and Outcomes instrument into Brazilian Portuguese.

Method:   This process entailed translation, synthesis, back-translation, expert committee review, and pretesting.

Findings:   Six items were altered in the Brazilian version, and the scoring system was changed from a five-point to a three-point Likert-type scale.

Clinical validation of the nursing diagnoses of Impaired Tissue Integrity and Impaired Skin Integrity in patients subjected to cardiac catheterization.

Aim: To validate, clinically, the defining characteristics for the nursing diagnoses of Impaired Tissue Integrity and Impaired Skin Integrity in patients subjected to heart catheterization and to validate acute pain, haematoma, bleeding, redness, and heat as additional characteristics.

Background: In clinical practice, an applicable nursing diagnosis for patients subjected to diagnostic heart catheterization has not been well-defined.

Design: Cross-sectional.

[Cross-cultural adaptation and validation of a questionnaire on what nurses know of heart failure].

This study aims to perform the cross-cultural adaptation and to verify the content validity and stability of Nurses' Knowledge of Heart Failure Education Principles to evaluate what Brazilian nurses know of heart failure. The process of cross-cultural adaptation involved translation, synthesis, back-translation, committee's proofreading and pre-test. The following psychometric properties were assessed content validity (face), reliability through internal consistency (Cronbach's Alpha) and stability (Kappa coefficient).

[Signs and symptoms in patients with decompensated heart failure: inference of priority nursing diagnoses].

The aim of this study is to identify the signs and symptoms of patients admitted for decompensated heart failure (HF) in order to infer the priority nursing diagnoses (ND). This is a cross-sectional study undertaken in a university hospital. The data were collected by nurses trained to deal with HF and registered in a file containing identification items, and demographic and clinical variables.

Cross-cultural adaptation into Brazilian portuguese of the Dietary Sodium Restriction Questionnaire (DSRQ).

Background: Sodium restriction is a non-pharmacological measure often recommended to patients with heart failure (HF). However, adherence is low, being among the most common causes of HF decompensation. The Dietary Sodium Restriction Questionnaire (DSRQ) aims at identifying factors that affect adherence to dietary sodium restriction by patients with HF.

Clinical validation of nursing diagnoses of acute pain in hospitalized children.

Purpose: Clinically validate (Fehring's model) the characteristics of the nursing diagnosis acute pain in 65 hospitalized children.

Methods: Cross-sectional study.

Findings: This study resulted in 13 major characteristics (expressive behavior, change of mental state, verbal report of pain, observed evidence of pain, narrowed focus, position to avoid pain, guarding behavior, sleep disturbance, protective gestures, changes in heart rate, changes in muscle tone, changes in respiratory rate, and facial mask) and in 5 minor characteristics (changes in blood pressure, coded report, changes in breathing pattern, distraction behavior, and changes in appetite).

Cross-cultural adaptation and validation of a disease knowledge and self-care questionnaire for a brazilian sample of heart failure patients.

To adapt a questionnaire that assesses knowledge about heart failure (HF) and self-care and to analyze its content validity and reproducibility for use in Brazil. The questionnaire was validated through translation, summary, back-translation, expert committee review, pretest and assessment of psychometric properties. The final version (14 questions) was applied at the university hospital to HF outpatients under multidisciplinary team care.

[Adherence to appointments and medication treatment of patients from randomized clinical trials of the industry].

Historical cohort study that assessed the adherence rate of patients of randomized clinical trials (RCT) of pharmaceutical industry in cardiology to appointments and follow-up medical treatment. This study was conducted at the cardiology research unit in a public university hospital in Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. High adherence was regarded as > or = 80%.

[Adherence of patients with heart failure to treatment in a teaching hospital].

Non-compliance in heart failure (HF) patients is one of the factors leading to hospital readmissions. Under this perspective, a study was carried out in a university hospital in Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil to describe the compliance with pharmacological and non-pharmacological treatments of patients admitted with decompensated HF, relating the compliance to the number of hospital admissions and readmissions during a years period. The pharmacological compliance was measured through Morisky scale and the non-pharmacological compliance was measured through a previously validated questionnaire.

Pharmacological adherence to oral anticoagulant and factors that influence the international normalized ratio stability.

Cross-sectional study developed to relate the international normalized ratio (INR), used as a parameter to monitor the levels of blood clotting, stability to adherence, age, level of education, socioeconomic level, interaction with other drugs, comorbidities, vitamin K intake, anticoagulation time and drug cost. 156 patients were included, mean age 57 ± 13 years, (53.8%) male, 61 (39.

Prescribing and conducting non-pharmacological management of patients with decompensated heart failure admitted to a university hospital emergency.

This cross-sectional study aimed to describe the prescription of non-pharmacological management of patients with heart failure attending the emergency care of a hospital and the effectiveness of the practice. 256 patients aged 63 ± 13 years, 153 (60%) men, participated in the research. The most commonly prescribed non-pharmacological treatment was sodium restriction, 240 (95%), followed by weight control, 135 (53%).

Education and telephone monitoring by nurses of patients with heart failure: randomized clinical trial.

Background: Nursing approaches to manage patients with heart failure (HF) showed benefits in reducing the morbidity and mortality. However, combining intra-hospital education with telephone contact after hospital discharge has been little explored.

Objective: To compare two nursing intervention groups among patients hospitalized due to decompensated HF: the intervention group (IG) received educational nursing intervention during hospitalization followed by telephone monitoring after discharge and the control group (CG) received in-hospital intervention only.

Classification of patients according to the degree of dependence on nursing care and illness severity in a post-anesthesia care unit.

This study aimed to classify patients according to their degree of dependence on nursing care (Perroca Classification System) and correlate this with the anesthetic risk (American Society of Anesthesiologists--ASA classification) in a post-anesthesia care unit. A cross-sectional study was conducted, which included 402 patients, mean age 51.57 (±16.

Decreased cardiac output: clinical validation in patients with decompensated heart failure.

Purpose: Clinically validate (using Fehring's model) characteristics of the nursing diagnosis (ND) of decreased cardiac output (DCO) in 29 patients with decompensated heart failure.

Methods: Cross-sectional study conducted in a Brazilian university hospital.

Findings: According to the reliability rate (R) between the experts, the major characteristics (R ≥ 0.