Decreased cardiac output in the critical care setting.

The specific aim of this exploratory, descriptive study was to demonstrate that the nursing diagnosis, decreased cardiac output, contains at least seven separate and specific components. Forty critical care nurses completed a questionnaire about seven different case studies, or vignettes. Each vignette reflected one of the following: myocardial injury, arrhythmias, decreased preload, myocardial ischemia, increased afterload, drug effects, and cardiac surgery alterations. Mean scores were used to validate the specific subcategories. Analyses of variance were used to demonstrate statistically significant differences among them. Six of the labels were supported, providing preliminary evidence for the validity of these components of decreased cardiac output.