[Health education in transplant patients and their families in an intensive care unit]

Health Education (HE) is extremely important in transplant patients and their families in order to promote suitable self-care in this new stage of life. Intensive Care Units offer various opportunities by nurses in order to improve their Health Education. This process could start in this unit where the interaction between nurse and family is constant. The HE of transplant patient includes three dimensions: Knowledge: information about self-care in order to have a healthy way of life, and getting some information on how to reduce anxiety in patients and their families; Skills: as regards the abilities to properly apply the Health Education, where the families are really important; and finally Attitudes: ambivalent attitudes that are experienced by transplant patients. The objective is to describe the level of development of HE for critical transplant patients and their families from Intensive Care Units. A non-systematic literature review was performed in Pubmed and CINHAL data bases. In conclusion, it is emphasised that the skill of the HE nurse in an Intensive Care Units is important to promote lifestyles appropriate to the cognitive, affective, and psychomotor needs of transplant patients. Its implementation entails positive effects on clinical outcomes of the patient, decreased morbidity and mortality, costs, and health resources.