Course Information

Educational Need

The hemodynamic management of the critically ill patient in the ICU is dependent upon the precise quantification of cardiac output (CO). Traditionally, CO has been monitored invasively, which carries a risk for complications and adverse events including infection, arrhythmias, thrombosis, and pulmonary artery rupture, among others. In an effort to reduce the risks associated with invasive monitoring, non-invasive techniques and devices to measure cardiac output without the insertion of a pulmonary artery catheter have been developed and are now increasingly utilized for monitoring. In order to improve patient outcomes, healthcare providers must be able to understand and correctly interpret the data provided by these monitors and this cannot be achieved without an understanding of the methods underlying each method.

An educational need has been identified for a continuing education activity on noninvasive methods of measuring cardiac output during hemodynamic monitoring. This one-hour online continuing education activity is recommended for nurses and telemetry technicians.

Overview

The hemodynamic management of the critically ill patient in the ICU is dependent upon the precise quantification of cardiac output (CO). Traditionally, CO has been monitored invasively, which carries a risk for complications and adverse events. In an effort to reduce the risks associated with invasive monitoring, non-invasive techniques and devices to measure cardiac output have been developed and are now increasingly utilized for monitoring. This activity will discuss available, non-invasive methods of cardiac output monitoring.

Learning Outcome / Objectives

After completing this continuing education activity, nurses and telemetry technicians will have an understanding of the noninvasive measurement of cardiac output. Specifically, they will be able to (1) cite the clinical importance of measuring cardiac output and (2) differentiate methods of measuring cardiac output.

Outline

• Overview of Cardiac Output
  • Cardiac output and hemodynamic optimization
  • Estimation of CO from the pulmonary artery catheter
  • Importance of accurate CO values
  • Need for noninvasive/less invasive methods of estimating CO
• Noninvasive Cardiac Output Monitoring
  • Available methods and the distinct features/limitations/applications of each
  • Clinical settings for continuous noninvasive CO monitoring
  • Care considerations