Pregnancy-induced hypertension: understanding severe preeclampsia and the HELLP syndrome.

Pregnancy-induced hypertension (PIH) is a multisystem disease with life-threatening complications requiring expert nursing and medical management. Nurses caring for critically ill patients with this disease must be knowledgeable about the pathophysiologic occurrences of PIH as well as the protocols for anticonvulsant and antihypertensive therapy. This article presents the hemodynamic alterations of preeclampsia, the pathophysiology of the disease, and principles of acute management.