Effect of the 30-Degree Lateral Recumbent Position on Pulmonary Artery and Pulmonary Artery Wedge Pressures in Critically Ill Adults

A common therapeutic nursing intervention is patient positioning. Despite demonstrated benefits of lateral positioning, critically ill patients may require prolonged supine positioning in order to obtain reproducible hemodynamic measurements. The rationale for supine positioning is based on research that suggests that pulmonary artery (PA) pressure measurements in the lateral and supine positions are different. However, this research was limited by the lack of an angle-specific left atrial (LA) reference, which may have introduced systematic measurement error. It was unknown if PA pressure measurements in the 30-degree lateral position, using an angle-specific LA reference, were similar to supine measurements. To determine the effect of 30- degree right and left lateral positions on PA and PAW pressures in critically ill adults, 35 post-cardiac surgery patients, aged 27 to 89 (mean 63.6 +/- 11 years) were positioned in supine, right- and left-lateral positions. The patients served as their own controls. PA and PAW pressures were measured in each position.Air Force Inst of Tech Wright-Patterson AFB OH is the author of 'Effect of the 30-Degree Lateral Recumbent Position on Pulmonary Artery and Pulmonary Artery Wedge Pressures in Critically Ill Adults', published 1998 under ISBN 9781423558705 and ISBN 1423558707.