Overview:

Although pumping blood throughout the body to deliver oxygen and nutrition and remove waste seems like a simple task, it involves complex processes that, if fail, can literally mean the difference between life and death for a person. For these reasons, the nurse must understand the components of the cardiovascular system and be able to skillfully collect subjective data on its condition.

This program provides a review of the anatomy of the cardiovascular system, then demonstrates and describes a step-by-step approach for collecting subjective data for use in an assessment of the cardiovascular system.

Objectives:

After completing this course, the learner should be able to:

• Describe the anatomy and physiology of the cardiovascular system
• Explain the importance of subjective information in an assessment of the cardiovascular system
• List key questions to ask when taking the patient’s history