Validation of the concept risk for decreased cardiac output.

Objectives: to validate the concept "risk for decreased cardiac output".

Method: Six of the eight steps suggested in the technique developed by Walker & Avant were adopted to analyze the concept of the phenomenon under study and the proposal made by Hoskins was used for content validation, taking into account agreement achieved among five experts.

Results: the concept "decreased cardiac output" was found in the nursing and medical fields and refers to the heart's pumping capacity while the concept "risk" is found in a large number of disciplines. In regard to the defining attributes, "impaired pumping capacity" was the main attribute of decreased cardiac output and "probability" was the main attribute of risk. The uses and defining attributes of the concepts "decreased cardiac output" and "risk" were analyzed as well as their antecedent and consequent events in order to establish the definition of "risk for decreased cardiac output", which was validated by 100% of the experts.

Conclusion: The obtained data indicate that the risk for decreased cardiac output phenomenon can be a nursing diagnosis and refining it can contribute to the advancement of nursing classifications in this context.