Introduction: Cardiovascular disease is one of the leading causes of mortality. With the development of medicine, many open-heart surgery techniques have been developed, which nowadays prolong the life expectancy and quality of patient's life. The most common cardiac surgical procedures include coronary artery bypass grafting, balloon angioplasty, valve repair and replacement, and transplantation or insertion of an artificial heart. Cardiac surgery is a difficult and complex procedure on the patient's body. Cardiac surgery requires the involvement of the entire surgical team, which is appropriately trained to perform the procedure. Purpose: The purpose is to present the role of the operating room nurse in cardiac surgery. Methods: The diploma thesis is based on the descriptive method with a systematic review of literature in English and Slovenian. The PubMed, CINAHL databases and the COBISS reciprocal bibliographic system were used. 42 units of literature were used. Results: There are many types of cardiological diseases, as well as many types of surgical procedures. The OR nurse needs to know the progress of the operation, so she can follow the surgeon. The aim is to perform the surgery safely and with as few complications as possible. During preoperative care, the patient must be treated holistically, which means attending to physical, psychological and spiritual needs. Teamwork and good communication between the operating nurses and the rest of the team are crucial for the success of the operation. Discussion and conclusion: Every cardiac surgery has specific features and specificities for which the nurse must be trained. For an OR nurse, being involved in open-heart surgery is challenging, but it also gives her the opportunity to continuously improve and learn new skills.
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