Reducing Congestive Heart Failure Complications

ECG: sinus tachycardia with waveform abnormalities consistent with LVH, Pronounced Q waves consistent with pulmonary edema.

Nearly 5.1 million people in the United States have been diagnosed with heart failure. Yet so many people don’t have a clue what it is until they have been diagnosed with it. Congestive Heart Failure, or CHF, is a disease that has many symptoms, can be tested and treated, has several causes, and can be avoided.

My interview with Ms. Carol Baker Cross took place on March 21st, 2015 around 7 p.m. Ms. Cross is an RN who works at Piedmont Fayette Hospital. She earned her BSN from Troy University and graduated in 2011.The most common health care condition/problem that Ms. Cross encounters is Congestive Heart Failure and she identified this health care condition because she is an RN on the cardiac floor of the hospital. According to Ms. Cross, Congestive Heart Failure is seen when the heart doesn't have a lot of output. The heart is not strong and because the ventricles do not pump blood in a sufficient volume, fluid buildup can be seen

Providing patients diagnosed with Congestive Heart Failure effective teaching can eliminate reoccurring hospitalizations. Patients are discharged with CHF and readmitted within 30 days. The information provided will examine the process of enhancing patient knowledge and provide additional resources essential for effective health care management. Research evidence provides data that proves patients who are diagnosed with CHF needs a variety of health care needs during admission and after discharge. The proposal will display an evaluation plan, implementation plan and a dissemination of the

Risk factors play a role to cause congestive heart failure, but if having more than one of the risk factors, it increases one's risk. According to Daniel lee Kulick and Benjamin Wedro, Congestive heart failure is often a consequence of atherosclerotic heart disease and therefore the risk factors are the same. Poorly controlled high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes, smoking, and family history are all contributors to being a risk factor of congestive heart failure. Heart valve disease becomes a risk factor of the patient throughout the years. Other causes of heart failure have their own set of risk factors and preferences and it becomes problem to those diseases.

Mr. Javier Escobar, U.S Army Veteran, 50-year-old Latino male and divorced claiming to “not having anyone in his life due to Combat Post Traumatic Stress Disorder”. Mr. Escobar is a newly patient diagnosed with Congestive Heart Failure (CHF). Patient claims to smoke 1 pack of cigarettes a day, also the consumption of 1 bottle (750mls) per night of alcohol. Congestive Heart Failure is due to Chronic high blood pressure that puts great stress on the heart muscle. The muscle of the heart weakens and fails to push the normal amount of blood around the body leading to Congestive Heart Failure. There are multiple symptoms that could by identified before heart failure such as anxiety, restlessness, cyanotic (blue

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

Congestive Heart Failure (CHF) and Heart Failure (HF) are serious problems in regards to hospital re-admissions especially regarding the sixty-five year old population. Data demonstrates approximately over 670,000 individuals each year are diagnosed with CHF, along with that there are 6 (six) million Americans affected with CHF. Hersh, Masoudi, and Allen (2013) described readmissions of patients with CHF is increasing by 25% within thirty days of discharge from the hospital. This creates a huge impact on the taxpayers and patients due to the increasing percentages being re-admitted into the hospitals (Post discharge Environment Following Heart Failure Hospitalization: Expanding the View of Hospital Re-admission, 2013). The problem is to identify a plan to decrease the CHF/HF hospital re-admissions into the especially regarding the 65 (sixty-five) year olds and older, in spite of efforts from the hospital staff providing guidelines and nursing education regarding CHF/HF signs and symptoms.

A new study released March 16, 2016 by Kaiser Permanente found that heart failure patients had a 19% lower risk of being readmitted to the hospital within 30 days when they were followed up within 7 days of being released from the hospital. The Heart Failure Management program aims to provide early follow-up within one week either by telephone or by office visit if necessary. According to the study, 45 percent of the telephone calls were made by non-physician providers who are qualified to adhere to an outpatient heart failure treatment protocol. Protocols have been established and approved by the participating cardiologists in the community and are evidenced-based driven so that patients will be receiving the best care possible.

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

Therapeutic measures for a patient with congestive heart failure would be daily weights, dietary sodium restrictions, positioning in high or semi-Fowler’s position, frequent vital signs, oxygen by cannula or mask, medical devices: pacemakers, internal cardiac defibrillator, biventricular cardiac pacemaker, ventricular assist device, medications: digoxin, diuretics, inotropes, nesiritide, beta blockers, surgery: heart valve repair or replacement, coronary

Diastolic heart failure is also known as heart failure with preserved systolic function or heart failure with normal ejection fraction. Diastolic heart failure can occur alone or with systolic heart failure. Approximately 550,000 individuals in the United States are diagnosed with heart failure and half of them have diastolic heart failure. Diastolic heart failure is mainly common in elderly people with age of 65 or older. Also, it is mainly diagnosed in women than men (Huether and McCance 2012).

Diagnosed with Congestive cardiomyopathy implies that the patient’s heart muscle has been debilitated by ailment and cannot sufficiently pump blood through the heart, which can lead to heart failure (“Columbia University Medical Center”, 2016). In this case study, the current situation of a male patient Mr. P., who is 76 years old, and frequently hospitalized with CHF is given. The purpose of this paper is to describe an approach to care with treatment plan recommendation, provide education to both the patient and his family, and a teaching plan.

In year 2000 and 2010, an estimated 1 million hospitalizations for Congestive Heart Failure (CHF), of which most of these hospitalizations were for those aged 65 and over, the share of CHF hospitalizations for those under age 65 increased from 23% to 29% over this time period (Hall, Levant, & DeFrances, 2012). According to Held (2009), acute decompensated heart failure (ADHF) ensues when cardiac output fails to meet the demand of the body’s metabolic needs. The fluid volume overload makes the unstable condition necessitates instant treatment for the reason that it impairs perfusion to systemic organs, endangering their function.

Congestive heart failure is a chronic disease that requires daily monitoring and life style management. Affecting the elderly, and their family the adjustment is a challenge. Daily life skills include the monitoring of daily weights, intake and output, and a low sodium diet. The person with congestive heart failure is generally admitted to the hospital for medication adjustments when their symptoms increase. The patient is often times short of breath, with a decrease in energy and an increase in their weight. The patients are generally elderly 60-65 years of age or older, and when comparing African Americans to Caucasians the African Americans have a 1.5 greater chance of developing heart failure ("Heart Failure," 2017). The