Hemodynamic profiling provides valuable information about cardiac output and its determinants: preload, afterload, and contractility. The direct and derived parameters of these determinants are used by expert critical care nurses in collaboration with medical directives for intervention to enhance clinical assessment, decisionmaking, and evaluation. This article reviews the basic and advanced aspects of hemodynamic profiling. The parameters that must be included in a complete hemodynamic profile are discussed with emphasis on the importance of index values. An algorithm is included as a guideline for use of the hemodynamic profile. A variety of clinical examples are discussed to illustrate the importance of hemodynamic profiling as an adjunct to expert critical care nursing practice.
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