 This studys general objective was to evaluate the efficacy of nursing orientation to reduce the anxiety of patients with acute coronary syndrome undergoing bed bath. The specific objectives included: the development and validation of an informative manual concerning bed bath; correlation of physiological variables systolic and diastolic blood pressure and heart and respiratory rate with the patients state anxiety; correlation of antecedent variables age, gender, cardiovascular risk factor, use of beta blockers, trait anxiety, depression, prior hospitalization, prior experience with bed baths, the patients preference for a female or male professional to perform the bath, pain, fear, and embarrassment with the patients state anxiety. 