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Nursing roles are expanding and there is a growing expectation that

nurses, with appropriate education and experience, are able to
perform assessments that were traditionally conducted by doctors.
(NHSManagementExecutive,1991;United Kingdom Central Council of
Nursing, Midwifery and Health Visiting( UKCC)(1992).
A comprehensive, systematic patient assessment is necessary in the
management and care of a patient with cardiac disease. Assessment
can be described as‘ an orderly collection of information concerning
the patient's health status which aims to identify the patient's
current health status, actual and potential health problems and areas
for health improvement‘ (Estes,2002p7).
Assessment requires a problem-solving approach and forms the firs t
stage of the nursing process, followed by nursing diagnosis,
identification of problems ,intervention and evaluation.
Assessment consists of :
•Patient history
•Determination of vital signs or nursing observations
•Physical examination
•Diagnostic investigations.
Traditionally, the nursing role in patient assessment would be
restricted to elements of patient history and nursing
observations. However, nurses performing advanced roles
increasingly perform physical examination in addition to
requesting and interpreting many diagnostic investigations.
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This article has enabled nurses to understand the
most common cardiac symptoms experienced and
be equipped to enquire into them. In addition, it
has addressed vital signs and physical examination.
Discussion of some aspects in this article have been
introductory, for example, heart sounds.
Furthermore, a comprehensive assessment would
also include diagnostic investigations ,a functional
assessment and an assessment to fall body systems
.It is envisaged that nurses under taking advanced
roles would seek to further develop their clinical
skills through continuing education and experience.