Decreased cardiac output: Diagnostic accuracy in heart transplant candidates

Abstract

Objective: To identify the accuracy of non-invasive, defining characteristics for the nursing diagnosis of Decreased Cardiac Output among patients with heart failure.Methods: Cross-sectional study. This study included 17 patients considered heart transplant candidates during the data collection period were selected (from May 2013 to May 2014). They were evaluated by the experts, and the cardiac output value was measured using a Swan Ganz® catheter.Results: Accuracy of the experts in diagnosing decreased cardiac output among patients with HF was high. Jugular vein stasis and electrocardiogram changes exhibited greater positive and negative predictive power for diagnosis.Conclusions: It was concluded that jugular vein stasis and electrocardiogram changes were the defining characteristics that reached satisfactory efficiency values and were more relevant in producing correct classifications of the occurrence of decreased cardiac output by the moderate and high sensitivity and specificity of each defining characteristic.