Abstract
The heart transplant nurse coordinator plays a key role in educating and supporting the postoperative heart transplant patient to achieve the best outcomes for a long and healthy life. The time leading up to transplantation, wait-list candidates will hear vital information regarding life after they have received their life-sustaining heart transplant. Unfortunately, at times, the information is minimally retained. The first few days to weeks following surgery are a crucial period of time for education of patients to be discharged from the hospital setting to home where they will need to care for themselves independently. Education must be clear and concise and encompass patients' health involving their allograft heart and their body as a whole. The coordinator looks to the critical care nurse at the bedside to help teach and reiterate information to the patient in this critical period of time.