ew knowledge and new procedures<br > for detecting and treating various<br > cardiovascular disorders have pro-<br > foundly changed cardiovascular<br > nursing. When it applies to acute<br > illness， cardiovascular nursing now<br >takes place almost exclusively in the highly<br >specialized cardiac care and surgical intensive<br >care units.<br > But that s just part of it. The new emphasis<br >on holistic and preventive care has expanded<br >nursing involvement during early prodromal<br >stages of cardiovascular illness and during<br >chronic maintenance as well. Such involve-<br >ment often takes place at sites away from the<br >hospital where nurses must practice more<br >independently than ever before. For example，<br >nurses have become coordinators of cardiac<br >rehabilitation programs. In this role， they work<br >with exercise physiologists， cardiologists， and<br >nutritionists. They define patient entrance<br >criteria， set exercise protocols， and establish<br >patient education programs. Similarly， nurses<br >have entered collaborative practices with car-<br >diac surgeons and cardiologists in outpatient<br >clinics--notably those for patients with hy-<br >pertension or pacemakers--in which they<br >manage patient care under standardized pro-<br >t0cols and conduct independent and collabo-<br >rative research in cardiac-care settings. In<br >the emergency department and all other hos-<br >pital departments， nurses must be ready to<br >handle sudden dysrhythmia， shock， or cardiac<br >arrest， knowing which situations are likely<br >to provoke cardiovascular complications or<br >emergencies and how to handle them<br >correctly.<br > To meet these challenging new responsibili-<br >ties， nurses need to continuously expand and<br >update their understanding of the cardiovas-<br >cular system and its normal function， and the<br >devastating effects of its dysfunction on inter-<br >locking vital systems. CARDIOVASCULAR DISOR-<br >DERS， the first volume of a new reference series<br >for nurses， will help you meet these new chal-<br >lenges. The first section， the introduction，<br >reviews cardiovascular fundamentals. The<br >chapters in this section review cardiovascular<br > anatomy and physiology and the mechanisms<br > of heart failure. They also contain complete<br > information on cardiovascular assessment and<br > diagnostic tests， including such advances as<br > nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) scanning<br > and digital subtraction angiography.<br > The remaining three sections of this volume<br > cover specific disorders of circulation， pump<br > failure， cardiac musculature， and electrocon-<br > duction. Each chapter contains three major<br > sections. Pathophysiology covers the causes，<br > fundamental mechanisms， and characteristic<br > signs and symptoms of each disorder， and<br > its effects on the cardiovascular system and<br > vital organs. Medical management focuses on<br > specific tests and other diagnostic methods<br > used to detect each disorder， and discusses<br > their characteristic findings. This part of each<br > chapter also summarizes treatment， including<br > new and traditional drug therapy， surgery，<br > and supportive procedures. Nursing manage-<br > ment provides detailed information for plan-<br > ning nursing care， presented according to the<br > nursing process. For each disorder， the dis-<br > cussion includes a detailed patient history，<br > characteristic assessment findings， and typical<br > nursing diagnoses. Expanding on these diag-<br > noses， it summarizes the goals of patient care，<br >suggests nursing interventions needed to<br >achieve them， and， finally， offers a guide to<br >evaluation.<br > Throughout this volume， scores of useful<br >anatomic drawings， illustrations， charts， and<br >diagrams clarify and augment the text. Special<br >graphic devices call attention to patient-<br >teaching aids and emergency management of<br >life-threatening complications， such as hyper-<br >tensive crisis and acute pulmonary edema.<br >Two appendices provide supplementary infor-<br >mation on congenital heart defects and car-<br >diovascular drugs.<br > Given nursing s expanding role in health<br >care， nurses have a special need to keep their<br >knowledge of cardiovascular disorders current<br >and accurate. This volume--which offers such<br >knowledge in both theoretical and practical<br >forms--will be an excellent reference for<br >nurses at all professional levels.<br >