Making A Safe Transition : Heart Failure

Heart failure may convey that the heart isn’t working anymore, but what it really means is that the heart isn’t pumping as well as it should be (REF). Heart failure is a chronic, progressive condition in which the heart muscle is unable to pump enough blood through to meet the body’s needs for blood and oxygen (REF). At first, the heart tries to make up for this by enlarging, developing more muscle mass, and pumping faster. As this happens, the blood vessels narrow to keep blood pressure up and the body diverts blood away from less important tissues and organs to maintain flow to the heart and brain (REF). Eventually, the body and heart cannot keep up and the patient begins to feel fatigue, breathing problems, weight gain with swelling in the feet, legs, ankles or stomach, and other symptoms that eventually leads to a hospital visit. The body’s coping mechanisms give us better understanding on why many are unaware of their condition until years after the heart declines (REF).

Heart failure is a chronic, progressive condition in which the heart muscle is unable to pump enough blood through to meet the body 's needs for blood and oxygen. Basically, the heart can 't keep up with its workload. American Heart Association Statistics (2016) reveals that heart failure accounts for 36% of cardiovascular disease deaths. Projections report a 46% increase in the prevalence of Heart Failure (HF) by 2030 by affecting over 8 million people above 18 years with the disease. Healthy People 2020 goals are focused on attaining high quality longer lives free of preventable diseases, promotion of quality of life, healthy development and healthy behaviors across all stages of life (Healthy People 2020, 2015).

Situation: Two patients in their 70s present to the office at different times today, each with documented heart failure: one diastolic and the other systolic, and both are hypertensive. First, discuss the difference between systolic and diastolic heart failure, providing appropriate pathophysiology. ACEI/ARBs are the only medications prescribed for CHF that have been found to prolong life and improve the quality of that life. EXPLAIN the mechanism of action of ACEI/ARBs and how they affect morbidity and mortality in CHF. Be specific. Diuretics must be used very carefully in diastolic ventricular dysfunction. EXPLAIN this statement using appropriate physiology. Now considering all of the above, describe an appropriate comprehensive plan of

In the UK, reports show that heart failure has been affecting up to 2% of the population, over 900,000 people are living with heart failure, with 63,000 new cases being diagnosed each year (BHF, 2015). It costs the NHS £625 million per year, as a result of the high portion of emergency admissions, readmission and long length of inpatient stay (NHS Improvement, 2010). DH (2000) confirmed that Heart failure accounts for all cardiac admissions and the readmission rate can be as high as 50% within 3 months; also, it further estimated 50% readmission might be preventable. Unfortunately, Heart Failure can’t be cured, but early

Although these interventions may improve immediate survival in the short term, only coronary artery revascularization and cardiac transplantation have been shown to improve long-term survival.” (DeMarco & Chatterjee, 1993)

Heart Failure affects nearly 5.8 million people in the United States. The American Heart Association reports that the total economic cost of heart disease and stroke in 2011 was $320.1 billion. ("Efforts to Prevent Heart," 2015). More Medicare dollars are spent for the diagnosis and treatment of heart failure than for any other diagnosis (Schneider, O'Donnell, & Dean, 2011). Hospital admissions for heart failure are very common, especially among Medicare aged patients, and heart failure hospital readmissions are a major contributor to rising healthcare costs. Evidence suggests that factors influencing readmission rates for heart failure patients include knowledge deficits in nursing education, standardized patient education, and transitional

Heart failure affects nearly 6 million Americans. It is the leading cause of hospitalization in people older than 65. Roughly 550,000 people are diagnosed with heart failure each year (Emory Healthcare, 2014). Heart failure is a pathologic state where the heart cannot pump enough blood to meet the demand of the body’s metabolic needs or when the ventricle’s ability to fill is impaired. It is not a disease, but rather a complex clinical syndrome. The symptoms of heart failure come from pulmonary vascular congestion and inadequate perfusion of the systemic circulation. Individuals experience orthopnea,

Congestive Heart Failure, also known as "cardiac decompensation, cardiac insufficiency, and cardiac incompetence," (Basic Nursing 1111) is an imbalance in pump function in which the heart is failing and unable to do its work pumping enough blood to meet the needs of the body's other organs. To some people, heart failure is defined as a sudden and complete stoppage of heart activity—i.e. that the heart just stops beating. This is an inaccuracy. Heart failure usually develops slowly, often over years, as the heart gradually loses its pumping ability and works less efficiently. CHF is a syndrome that affects individuals in different ways and to different degrees. It is usually a chronic disease. It gradually

There are many causes for heart failure. The most common cause is coronary heart disease (Moore and Roth, 2015). CHD is a disease in which the coronary arteries are blocked, preventing the heart muscles from getting the oxygenated blood they need. Heart failure can be caused by other present or past conditions like high blood pressure, diabetes, abnormal heart valves, diseased heart muscle, irregular heartbeats, heart defects, serious lung disease, poisons or substance abuse, and sleep apnea (Heart Failure Overview).

Congestive heart hailure, also known as CHF or heart failure, affects the lives of 5 million Americans each year with 550,000 new cases diagnosed yearly. (Emory healthcare, 2013) CHF is a medical condition in which the heart has become weak and cannot pump enough blood to meet the need for oxygen rich blood required by the vital organs of the body, less blood is pumped out of the heart to the organs and tissues in the body and pressure in the heart increases, it does not mean the heart has stopped working. (Murphy, 2013) Once the heart has become weakened by conditions such as hypertension, abnormal heart

Congestive Heart Failure is when the heart's pumping power is weaker than normal. It does not mean the heart has stopped working. The blood moves through the heart and body at a slower rate, and pressure in the heart increases. This means; the heart cannot pump enough oxygen and nutrients to meet the body's needs. The chambers of the heart respond by stretching to hold more blood to pump through the body or by becoming more stiff and thickened. This only keeps the blood moving for a short while. The heart muscle walls weaken and are unable to pump as strongly. This makes the kidneys respond by causing the body to retain fluid and sodium. When the body builds up with fluids, it becomes congested. Many conditions can cause heart

According to the American Heart Association (2015), heart failure is defined as “a chronic, progressive condition in which the heart muscle is unable to pump enough blood through to meet the body 's needs for blood and oxygen. Basically, the heart can 't keep up with its workload”. Congestive heart failure is a progressive illness that effects millions of Americans every year. Many other illnesses can lead to the development of congestive heart failure. Examples of these diseases include: coronary artery disease, past heart attack, high blood pressure, abnormal heart valve, heart muscle disease such as hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, dilated cardiomyopathy or inflammation such as myocarditis, congenital heart disease, severe lung disease, diabetes, obesity and asthma. (American Heart Association, 2015 (Centers for

Congestive heart failure is an older name for heart failure. Congestive heart failure takes place when the heart is unable to maintain an adequate circulation of blood in the bodily tissues or to pump out the venous blood returned to it by the veins (Merriam-Webster). The heart is split into two distinct pumping structures, the right side of the heart and the left side of the heart. Appropriate cardiac performance involves each ventricle to extract even quantities of blood over intervals. If the volume of blood reimbursed to the heart develops more than both ventricles can manage, the heart can no longer be an efficient pump.

Heart failure is a condition in which the heart muscle becomes too weak to maintain an adequate cardiac output to meet the body’s

Aguanno, Jim and Samson, Laurent the authors of the article “Diagnosis and Patients with Heart Failure” discusses the heart failure, causes of heart failure, diagnosis and management of patients with heart failure. The authors define heart failure as “Heart Failure is a complex clinical syndrome that results from any structural or functional impairment of ventricular filling or ejection of blood” (Aguanno & Laurent, 2018). The article mentions that heart failure affected 26 million people worldwide (Aguanno & Laurent, 2018). The article describes that heart failure can be occur due to various pathophysiology’s in different patients. According to the authors, it can be sometimes so challenging to diagnose the condition because there can be variety