Transitional care of nurses to older adults with artificial pacemaker

ABSTRACT Objective: to understand how the transitional care of nurses to olde adults with artificial pacemaker occurs. Method: a qualitative research, carried out in a philanthropic hospital in the city of Salvador, Bahia, Brazil. Fourteen nurses working in surgical and cardiac inpatient units participated. Data were collected between August and November 2020, through semi-structured interviews, and analyzed using the methodological framework Discourse of the Collective Subject and discussed in the light of Afaf Meleis’ theory of transitions. Results: nurses’ incipient knowledge about transitional care was identified. It was observed that the nursing discharge report is a facilitating instrument for transitional care. Final considerations: the study pointed out that the transitional care of nurses to older adults with artificial pacemakers does not have a theoretical foundation, reporting as a priority the care with the pacemaker identification card and with the surgical wound.

Cardiac pacing: basic concepts

This chapter aims to provide an overview of the basic concepts of cardiac pacing, sufficient background, and information about the last technological advances in this field. In the first section, the physiological principles of cardiac stimulation, starting from the action potential generation and propagation, are summarized. In the second section, the essential parts and functions of an artificial pacemaker are described. Finally, in the last section some of the main pacing functions and algorithms are detailed: atrioventricular delay programming, automatic mode switch, and rate responsive sensors.