Family care in the coronary care unit: an analysis of clinical nurse specialist intervention.

A sudden and life-threatening illness requiring hospitalization and admission to the coronary care unit (CCU) can result in serious disorganization for the patient's family. This disorganization can become obvious to staff when family members are too anxious to hear important information about the patient or when families are unable to make decisions about the patient's treatment or disposition. Although CCU care is highly technical, it is not exclusively technical. Patients and their families need care that is considerate of the family group. In a case report, the Lazarus stress and coping framework is used to assess, intervene in, and evaluate care given to one family during an admission of a family member to the CCU. Although this framework is individually oriented and is particularly dependent on individual cognition, it proved useful for work with the described family.