末期心衰竭病人無法符合心臟移植條件，在左心室輔助系統未發明前，病人能做的就是等待死亡。本文主要是分享陪伴一位末期心衰竭的病人，於加護病房等待放置左心室輔助系統的術前照護經驗，照護期間自2011年7月4日至7月29日，照護過程中發現病人在等待接受手術期間，雖醫療團隊不斷給予說明治療計畫，但仍頻頻出現憤怒、淡漠、厭食之行為反應，因此，筆者透過觀察及持續給予傾聽、關懷，以深入會談的方式收集主、客觀資料，經分析後發現，病人的行為是源自於對手術結果的不確定感以及擔心死亡的恐懼所致，故藉由提供彈性會客，運用家庭支持系統，讓其重要親友探視、陪伴，共同面對心臟手術帶來的衝擊，並得以渡過術前不安的歷程。

For the end-stage heart failure patients who can not meet the heart transplantation criteria before the development of left ventricular assist device, all they can do is waiting for death. The aim of this study is to share the nursing experience of preoperative caring an end-stage heart failure patient who waits for left ventricular assist device implantation in intensive care unit from July 4 to July 29, 2011. In the caring process, we found that the patient revealed anger, apathy, and poor appetite behavioral responses frequently during the period of waiting for surgery even though the explanation of treatment plan was persistently informed by the medical team. The author adopted observation, listening and empathy skills to collect the subjective and objective information by in-depth talks. The analysis found that those responses were caused by uncertainty about the surgical outcomes and the fear of death. The study helped the patient to face the impact of cardiac surgery and the course of preoperative anxiety by offering the flexible visiting hours and the use of family support system to let friends and relatives visit.