Case Study

Student 2

· In this case study, an infant suffered a complication of cardiac tamponade after removal

of the arterial catheter. As stated in the book, the clinical question that a RN might ask is in

infants who have had cardiac surgery (P), how often does removing pulmonary artery

catheters (I) influence cardiac tamponade (O) within the first week after surgery (T) (Melnyk

· & Fineout-Overholt, 2015)? The best way to find evidence to answer this clinical question

would be getting different studies, and comparing them. The type of study you would

probably want to look for is a case-control study. For example, there was another case study

done that stated the incidence of cardiac tamponade after cardiac surgery is reported as

ranging from 0.04% to 7 (Johnston & McKinley, 2000). They reviewed the pathophysiology

of cardiac tamponade and the increased risk for pediatric patients was outlined to come up

with their conclusions. Clinical databases from the online library such as EBSCO, CINAHL

Plus, Cochrane Library are just a few databases that can be helpful to look for the

information. By looking up these different databases, and seeing the research conducted, you would be able to answer the clinical question.

References

Johnston, L., & McKinley, D. (2000). Cardiac tamponade after removal of atrial intracardiac

monitoring catheters in a pediatric patient: case report. PubMed, 29 (4):256-61.

Melnyk, B. M., & Fineout-Overholt, E. (2015). Evidence Based Practice in Nursing &

Healthcare. (3rd ed.). Philadelphia: Wolters Kluwer.