Nursing care for patients with implantable defibrillators

Patients with implantable defibrillators are a new patient population that presents challenging issues and concerns. The size of this population will increase as the device's availability increases and design improvements are made that widen its applicability. These protocols have evolved during our first year with these patients and will doubtless change as we accrue experience in assisting patients to assume the role of being their own most important healthcare manager.