The cardiac nurse is presenting teaching to a patient with stable angina who is about to be discharged from the hospital. Which information is vital for the nurse to teach this patient prior to discharge? (Hint: When is stable angina considered unstable angina?)

When discharging a patient with stable angina, it is vital for the nurse to emphasize how to recognize when angina may be progressing to an unstable state, which can lead to more severe complications. Among the options provided, the most crucial point to teach is:

Consider angina pain that is more severe than usual to be a medical emergency.

This is important because a change in the characteristics of angina (such as increased severity) can indicate the transition from stable to unstable angina, which requires immediate medical evaluation and intervention.

To clarify the reasoning for the other options:

• "Get medical help if one dose of nitroglycerine does not stop the pain" is important, but the key point is recognizing severe changes in pain.
• "If pain occurs during activity, and rest makes it better than this is worrisome" should technically indicate it’s stable angina; however, this statement is confusing in the context of assessing worsening angina.
• "Notify the health-care provider if the pain suddenly radiates to both arms" can be relevant but isn’t specific enough to unstable angina.

Thus, recognizing an unusual pattern or severity in angina symptoms is critical to ensuring patient safety and timely intervention.