Purpose: To identify the possible defining characteristics (DCs) and related factors of the nursing diagnosis (ND) decreased cardiac tissue perfusion.
Methods: Cross-sectional study using medical charts of adults admitted to an emergency department with the chief complaint of chest pain in a hospital in São Paulo, Brazil.
Findings: DCs identified: crushing chest pain, elevated markers of myocardial necrosis, ischemic electrocardiogram changes, sweating, nausea, and vomiting. Related factors identified: interruption of arterial blood flow and coronary spasm.
Conclusion: This ND was clinically identified due to significant differences in the DCs of patients with and without the diagnosis.
Practice implications: The clinical indicators identified in this study can be the starting point for the DCs for this ND.
Keywords: Acute coronary syndrome; chest pain; nursing diagnosis.
© 2015 NANDA International, Inc.