My Open-Heart Failure

Ellyn Bache once said, “It’s normal to shy away from illness and death. It’s natural to gravitate toward laughter and life.” My dad has congestive heart failure, which is normally not considered a terminal disease, but his stage of failure is. He had his first heart attack when I was 8 years old. He was in and out of the hospital quite often. My dad had his second heart attack the summer after my 6th-grade year when I was twelve. He was in California, visiting his mother before she died. He had a heart attack and a stroke and was in the hospital for 52 days before we were able to go out to California and visit him. By the time we got there, almost all his bodily systems had shut down. He had frontal lobe brain damage, which made him unable to recognize my

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

The left side of the heart brings oxygen-rich blood from the lungs through the left atrium to the left ventricle, then out into body. When the left side of the heart is damaged or can’t pump as well, it has to work harder to send blood through the body. This causes fluid to build up in the body, especially the lungs. That’s why shortness of breath is one of the most common symptoms of heart failure. Systolic failure happens when the heart doesn’t pump out blood the way it should. Diastolic means the heart doesn’t fill back up with blood as it should. The symptoms of left sided heart failure are tachypnea, increased work of breathing, crackles initially heard in lung bases, but when severe, heard throughout the lung fields, pulmonary edema, and dullness in lung fields to finger percussion, pleural effusion detectable by reduced breath sounds at the bases of the lungs, and cyanosis.

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,

In 2012, my cousin suffered a severe heart attack which lead to heart failure. After witnessing someone I love suffer a life-changing event, it was important to find ways in which I could help. During her time in the hospital I cared for her children, encouraging them to remain positive around their mother, explaining how important their presence was to her recovery. I assisted in organizing a fundraiser that provided financial benefits for medical expenses. An extended hospital stay can create a feeling of isolation, and the fundraiser served as a physical reminder of the amount of support she had behind her during this battle. Childcare and fundraising were both pivotal ways in which I made a difference, but being present with my cousin at

I was born and raised in Johannesburg, South Africa I immigrate to U.S.A. in 1996 with my son Nathan and a year later I got married to Teresa we have 2 kids TJ and Angeli who both are in college.

Heart failure is a chronic, debilitating disease affecting 5.1 million Americans. It is the most common cause of hospital admissions for Medicare beneficiaries, and is the diagnosis associated with most readmissions (Sterne, Grossman, Migliardi, & Swallow, 2014). Lower quality of life is experienced by patients with heart failure. Mortality rates remain high with about 30% of patients dying within the first year after diagnosis (Vellone et al., 2013). In the U.S. heart failure has become a major public health concern. The number of annual hospitalizations for individuals with heart failure increased from 2.4 million to 3.6 million from 1990 to 1999 (Veroff et al., 2012). Therefore, it is imperative to develop interventions to better

The U. S healthcare system undergone major changes in the past 100 years. Scientific advancement coupled with increased sophistication of the health care workforce including physicians and nurses have given an international reputation to U.S health system. Even though weakness can be found like lack of primary health access, high infant mortality rate and increased numbers of uninsured people in U.S. A growing demand of patients with chronic illness over the age of sixty-five, is challenging to the health system.

Nurse Driven Education for A Patient Diagnosed With Chronic Systolic Heart Failure Refusing Diagnostic and Interventional Procedures

Congestive Heart Failure is a condition in which the heart cannot pump enough blood to meet the needs of the rest of the body (Department of Health & Human Services, 2012). The failure can occur in on either side of the heart. In left-side heart failure, fluid backs up into the lungs, causing shortness of breath, due to the fact that the blood entering the left side of the heart comes from the pulmonary artery, and when the left ventricle cannot pump fluid out of the heart or when the left atrium cannot empty completely into the ventricle it backs up into the lungs. In right-side heart failure, fluid can back up into the abdomen, legs, and feet, causing swelling. The blood being pumped into the right

Sensing process is the initial stage of our process. Heart problems like Chronic Heart Failure Disease affected people have 70% of possibility to cause of critical heart failure i.e. Acute Decompensated Heart Failure (ADHF). The concept of outpatient monitoring for early detection and treatment of ADHF is not new. However, the question of which parameters to monitor and what specific detection strategies should be used to prevent hospitalization has not been adequately addressed. Symptoms such as orthopnea and physical examination signs such as pulmonary rales, peripheral edema, and elevated jugular venous pressure reflect increased ventricular filling pressures and vascular congestion and are often used for the diagnosis of ADHF. However,

One of the main causes of mortality and morbidity is congestive heart failure (CHF). The major causes of CHF are coronary artery disease and hypertension. Other risk factors are occurrence of left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH), valvular heart disease, diabetes, smoking, obesity and dyslipidemia [46, 47]. Diabetes mellitus as an anticipated factor of CHF was explained in some studies [44, 47]. Diabetes is considered as a risk factor for CHF but yet, its relationship with CHF has not been completely understood [47, 48]. Alterations of left ventricular function and structure that are associated with diabetes mellitus or diminished glucose regulation have been described in recent studies [42, 49]. It has been reported that insulin resistance

Heart failure (HF) is a chronic, progressive condition defined as the hearts inability to efficiently pump an adequate amount of blood to meet the demands of the body (Naab, 2011). Heart failure may be the result of the heart chambers not adequately filling, also known as diastolic HF or the decreased contractility of the valves to perfuse blood to the body, also known as systolic HF. “Heart Failure is a progressive disease which arises as a consequence of an abnormality in cardiac structure, function, rhythm or conduction” (Naab, 2011).

He stated that because of his illness he lost his home and his family, even the dog, and some of his belongings that were in a storage facility. The city and the police harassed him because he had no place to go; he was homeless. He reported that he was depressed.

My cousin Josiah was born with a rare heart condition. After he was born he had to undergo many heart and lung procedures and surgeries, 6 of them being open heart surgery. Josiah is only 3 years old and he is unable to do many things other children can do. Josiah is fed with a feeding tube, he always has to carry his oxygen tank, and he is monitored all day everyday. I feel sad when I see pictures of all of these constrictive tubes and wires all over the place, or when he is out in public and people at staring at him, but Josiah is always happy. Josiah has taught me that if you focus on everything good around you, you can be happy. Josiah is a inspiration to me and one of my heros. Before he left the Big Island he gave our family bracelets, which are very important to me.