Noninvasive and Minimally Invasive Cardiac Output Monitoring: A Nursing Perspective

For decades, nurses have monitored and titrated medications based on cardiac output. In the past, this was almost exclusively done through the use of an invasive pulmonary artery catheter. However, there are inherent patient risks to using a pulmonary artery catheter, and trends have shown a decreased use of this method. Advances in technology have brought about various noninvasive and minimally invasive methods to monitor cardiac output including pulse contour analysis, finger cuff technology, thoracic bioimpedance and bioreactance, and endotracheal electrical bioimpedance. A review of current noninvasive and minimally invasive methods to monitor cardiac output, and nursing considerations are discussed.