Nursing care for women with HELLP syndrome: a scoping review.
Pâmela Silva Arduini, Cynthya Viana de Resende, Jéssica Aparecida da Silva and 1 others
PMID 39136682WHAT IT FOUND
Reviewers mapped 39 nursing care measures for HELLP syndrome from ten mostly case-based studies.
Key actions include investigating right-sided abdominal pain, monitoring platelets and liver enzymes, and preparing for emergency delivery, though evidence quality was low.
Key findings
01The review identified 39 nursing care measures for women with HELLP syndrome, divided into domains including prenatal care, symptom management, postpartum care, family support, and discharge planning.
02Most included evidence came from case studies (50%) and descriptive studies (40%), with only one qualitative study, indicating a scarcity of high-level evidence for specific nursing interventions.
03Nursing care recommendations emphasize the critical role of assessing symptoms like epigastric pain and differentiating them from common pregnancy signs, alongside rigorous monitoring of vital signs and laboratory parameters.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
The review found a severe lack of studies specifically addressing nursing care for HELLP syndrome, with only ten studies included. Most included studies were case reports or descriptive papers, which provide low-quality evidence and cannot establish the effectiveness of specific nursing interventions. There were no randomized controlled trials or high-quality observational studies included. The small number of studies limits the ability to draw strong conclusions or generalize findings. The review excluded opinion articles and consensus statements, which might have contained practical guidance, due to the scoping review design criteria.
Declared interests
The authors declared no conflicts of interest. The study was not funded by any external organization.
The easy way to misread this
Do not treat the 39 listed nursing measures as evidence-based protocols proven to improve outcomes. They are synthesized from case reports and descriptive studies, meaning they represent suggested practices rather than interventions tested for efficacy in controlled trials.