Routine and Emergency Bedside Equipment Setup

Abstract

Designing a specific care approach for children with congenital heart disease (Cardiologia Pediatrica, McGraw-Hill, Milan, 1988) requires considerable hands-on knowledge and skills while also drawing on specific cardiology, paediatrics, intensive care, anatomy, physiology and pathophysiology elements.

As no similarities exist with other patient types, thorough clinical observation should be the starting point. This, combined with comprehensive knowledge of the anatomy, physiology and clinical condition of an individual patient, will be the key to drafting a customised patient care pathway, in which an experienced nurse (From novice to expert: excellence and power in clinical nursing practice, Italian edition: L’eccellenza nella pratica clinica dell’infermiere, McGraw-Hill, Milan, 2003) does make a difference.