Purpose: To provide registered nurses with information to help them identify and manage patients with aortic dissection.

Objectives:

1. Describe the classifications of aortic dissection.
2. List the signs and symptoms of aortic dissection.
3. Discuss surgical and medical treatment of aortic dissection.
4. Explain the follow-up care needed for patients who’ve had aortic dissections.

Description: To save the patient’s life, the healthcare team must be able to identify this perilous condition in mere moments.

Read the article [PDF], then click on the link below to take the test.

Author

Rose M. Coughlin is a Clinical Nurse Specialist on the Cardiothoracic Stepdown Units at the Cleveland (Ohio) Clinic. She does not have any financial arrangements or affiliations with any corporations offering financial support or educational grants for continuing nursing education activities.

1.6 contact hours provided by ANA.

The American Nurses Association Center for Continuing Education and Professional Development is accredited as a provider of continuing nursing education by the American Nurses Credentialing Center’s Commission on Accreditation.

ANA is approved by the California Board of Registered Nursing, provider number CEP6178.

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