LEVEL OF NURSING-CARE REQUIRED BY THE UNSTABLE ANGINA PATIENT

To determine the nursing workload required for the unstable angina patient, we prospectively evaluated 116 consecutive patients admitted to the coronary care unit (CCU) with unstable angina. The level of nursing care was determined by the number of CCU complications and interventions. Patient acuities were ranked on a scale of I to IV using the Therapeutic Intervention Scoring System (TISS). The nursing workload was graded as follows: I = 0-9 points, II = 10-19 points, III = 20-29 points, IV = ≥30 points. Points were determined by the quantity of life-threatening complications requiring nursing-assisted procedures for each patient during the CCU stay. Due to a low incidence of complications and need for interventions, the majority of unstable angina patients were in the acuity level I (78%). The CCU nursing workload for the unstable angina patients was moderately low. These data indicate that a significant percentage of unstable angina patients do not need therapy that requires a CCU setting.