[Hepatic coma. The nursing care].

The hepatic coma is an entity tending to occur as a complication of severe hepatic diseases and in which the recognition of symptoms and signs by the personnel caring for those patients is essential for the early detection of this condition. A review of the literature is made making emphasis on the pathogenesis, clinical picture and the trigger factors of the hepatic coma. The nursing care for patients with hepatic coma are described; stressing that the nursing diagnosis of the first signs Ia essential for the prognosis and the clinical course of these patients. It is pointed out how health education in these patients is oriented to maintain and improve their health condition, to have a better response to the treatment and to avoid a relapse in prone patients.