The family dimension of cardiovascular care.

Cardiovascular disease, like many other life-style-related health problems, is argued to have its origins related in part to health practices first learned in the family. Further, empirical work has shown that the responses of family members to the onset of acute cardiac symptoms contribute significantly to how quickly care is sought. Finally, considerable empirical evidence exists to suggest that families both aggravate and are affected by acute and chronic cardiac illness. Nonetheless, the involvement of the family in cardiac preventive or curative activities remains limited, and the ability of most nurses to appreciate the family as a unit and treat it as a client even more so. This paper describes the nature of family nursing vis-a-vis a cardiovascular event.