The effect of liaison nurse on patient anxiety and vital signs during cardiac care unit admission: a randomized clinical trial

Admission to cardiac care unit (CCU) is a stressful event for patients. Nurse accompaniment during CCU admission may help the patient in adapting to the CCU conditions. The present study was conducted to investigate the effect of liaison nurse on patient's anxiety and vital signs during CCU admission. In this clinical trial, 70 coronary heart patients were selected from the emergency room through a purposive sampling and randomly assigned into control and intervention groups. Samples' anxiety was measured by Spielberger anxiety inventory and their vital signs were recorded. The intervention group received necessary information and then the nurse accompanied them during the CCU admission. After that, Spielberger anxiety inventory was completed and vital signs were recorded again. Control patients only received the routine care, through which they completed Spielberger anxiety inventory. Moreover, their vital signs were recorded before and after the CCU admission. Post-intervention mean anxiety score of the intervention group was significantly lower than that of the control group (51.8 +/- 7.89 and 57.23 +/- 6.36, p=0.002). Also, the mean heart rate in the intervention group was significantly lower than that of the control group (78.2 +/- 8.24 and 84.94 +/- 13.8, p=0.016). But, mean systolic and diastolic blood pressures and respiratory rate showed no significant differences following intervention between the groups. Results showed that the presence of liaison nurse positively influences anxiety and some vital signs of CCU patients and put patients in a more stable condition.