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Sternal Precautions: Is It Necessary To Restrict Our Patients?, Lauren Belyea

Honors College Theses

This paper is based on the inquiry about the effects of sternal precautions as part of a patient’s recovery following a sternotomy. It is important to explore this because nurses should always be asking themselves “why am I doing what I am doing with my patients?” “Which of my practices are evidence based and which do not have any evidence to support them?” (MeInyk, 2009). If sternal precautions are indeed overly restrictive and preventing patients from achieving the best possible recovery outcomes, it is the job of the nurse and other healthcare providers to make changes to the current practice.