The falciform ligament in the echocardiographic diagnosis of ascites.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to show that the falciform ligament (FL) is an important finding on transthoracic echocardiography (TTE) in patients with ascites.

Background: It is difficult to determine the cause of echo-free spaces around the heart. When an echo-free space is seen anterior to the right ventricle, the identification of the FL helps to distinguish ascites from pericardial effusions, pleural effusions, and pericardial cysts.

Integrating the nursing process into a nursing quality improvement program.

In 1991, the Joint Commission's nursing services standards scoring guidelines went into effect. Nancy Claflin discusses the changes in the nursing process needed to meet these revised standards under the rubrics of assessment, planning, intervention, and evaluation. She then presents an extensive implementation plan for integrating this revised nursing process into a nursing QI program.