Managing Heart Failure Abstract Heart failure occurs when the heart muscles

Managing Heart Failure Abstract Heart failure occurs when the heart muscles do not pump blood properly as necessary. Higher Blood Pressure (BP) and narrow heart arteries that constrict efficient pumping of blood by making the heart stiff or weak occasion this.
This way, heart’s cardiovascular system fails to meet the body’s metabolic demands occurring during either diastolic dysfunction or systolic dysfunction or both. Not every condition culminating to heart failure is reversible.
However, lifestyle changes like regular exercises, reduction of salt intake, stress management can enhance life quality (Dargie, McMurray & Poole-Wilson, 1996). Indisputably, to manage heart failure appropriately, a multifaceted approach comes in handy.
Such an approach entails an assortment of medications, lifestyle modifications or even surgery. The best method to avert heart failure remains the control of conditions, which lead to heart failure – obesity, diabetes, high BP or coronary artery diseases.
Unfortunately, both the prevalence and the incidence of heart failure have been on the rise over the past few years. Heart failure as a progressive and chronic disease leads to high mortality rate and recurrent hospital admissions.
The first part of the essay will examine dietary modifications in managing heart failure. The dietary function in management of heart failure will be examined vis-à-vis the necessary changes requisite to the current diet.
The role of culture in relation will be analyzed as well as the obstacles that may be experienced while informing patients of the necessity of dietary changes. It will also look into the best health care discipline plus the Registered Nurse (RN) that is best suited to assist in dietary modifications.
It will also examine how team members ought to collaborate with the family, patient and the RN to assist encourage safe transition to homes and healthy eating. Part two of the essay will encapsulate the role of physical activities in management of heart failure as well as how the RN can advance some daily physical exercise routine.
It will also delve into the best healthcare discipline in addition to an RN that is best susited in helping the patient with physical exercises. Lastly, the paper will delve into the collaboration between the RN and team members together with the family, patient and the RN in promoting safe transition to home and physical exercises.
Part I What is the role of diet in managing Heart Failure? People with heart failure ought to embark on varied non-pharmacological measures with the intent of enhancing prognosis as well as to bolster symptoms.
Dietary modification helps in weight reduction. Of course, obesity is a high risk factor leading to not only heart failure but also left ventricle hypertrophy. It is also important to avoid foods with high cholesterol levels.
Proper dieting ensures that the patient stays away from obesity, artery disease, high BP and diabetes as condition that leads to heart failure. Proper dieting ensures that the patient’s heart stays away from excessive fat around the heart, which narrows heart arteries.
Towards this end, reducing sugar consumption would also ensure that the patient with heart failure does not suffer from both systolic and diastolic dysfunction. Proper and balanced diet is important for patients with heart failure (Jessup & McCauley, 2003).
What changes need to be made to the present diet? There is need to reduce intake of salt to reduce the sodium level in the body. Additionally, it is also important to reduce alcohol consumption, which is thought to worsen the health conditions for people with heart failure. Fatty foods have to be eliminated from the diet. This way, it will be possible to lose the weight that burdens the heart. Additionally, it will be necessary to avert addition of salt to already cooked food. It is also important to cut down intake of sugary foods. Such changes will ensure that the patient stays away from diseases that worsen heart failure such as diabetes and cardiac artery.
What role does culture play with diet? People have dissimilar eating habits and value systems, which characterize each particular society. For this reason, culture plays a vital role as far as diet is concerned.
In some cultures, fatty foods are given premium. Unfortunately, this increases the cholesterol levels that worsen the heart failure condition. To some cultures, certain foods are given premium over other healthier foods.
Towards this end, this culminates to lifestyle diseases, which in turn increase the chances of getting heart failure (Dargie, McMurray & Poole-Wilson, 1996). Due to role differentiation and other social inequalities, there are particular foods that are expected to be cooked in a family.
Lack of information may see people become victims of heart failure. Again, there is a chance that consumption of meat is accompanied by alcohol consumption. This puts people at the risk of getting heart failure.
Some cultures also involve consumption of foods that are detrimental to their health. What obstacles might be encountered when informing the patient about the changes in diet? There are innumerable obstacles that are bound to be encountered while informing heart failure patients about dietary changes.
Primarily, the informer should apply the collaborative paradigm as opposed to a directive paradigm. Towards this end, the collaborative paradigm should involve informing the patient of the advantages accruing from changes in diet.
An attempt to use a directive paradigm would be disastrous. This is because a directive paradigm involves merely directing heart failure patients of the diet that they should take. Patients may also encounter difficulties in adapting to newfangled dietary changes.
Informing such patients of the dietary changes should be preceded by concerted efforts to educate the patient of the benefits of proper and healthy dieting. Therefore, any attempt to command the patient around may be unfortunate and disastrous.
Which health care discipline, in addition to the RN, is best suited to help with dietary modifications? For proper medical assessments for patients with heart failure, RNs address lifestyle changes and medical adherence.
They also help patients in provision of self-management support and provide emotional support as the continuity figure by helping the patients navigate healthcare systems. RNs educate patients on the need for healthy lifestyle choices.
It would also be paramount to avert consuming alcohol beyond the recommended level, as an excessive consumption is harmful. In assisting with dietary modifications, the healthcare disciplines involved are cardiology and psychology as well as other social sciences.
Towards this end, it is important to ensure that the patient is mentally prepared for the dietary modifications by comprehending the importance of the changes. This requires psychological support from the RN (Kasper & Knudson, 2010 – Essay Writing Service: Write My Essay by Top-Notch Writer).
Conversely, cardiology comes in handy in ensuring that the heart failure patient understands the need to reduce excessive fat surrounding the heart to enhance the cardiovascular activities. How will this team member collaborate with the RN, the patient and the family to help promote healthy eating and a safe transition to home?
With the increasing role of RNs in assisting heart failure patients, it is important to ensure that that the management of heart failure remains a multimodal approach. Towards this end, a team to help the patient is important.
For this reason, the RN should collaborate with the patient and his/her family as well as other team members to ensure the patient adapts healthy eating in his/her dietary routine (Greenberg & Wiley InterScience, 2010 – Essay Writing Service: Write My Essay by Top-Notch Writer).
After the patient has fully adapted to the new healthy eating habit, the team members and the RN should ensure that the family is well aware of the desirable dietary routine.
Since the management of the heart failure condition requires a collaborative paradigm and never a directive paradigm, which can upset the patient. Collaborating with other team members is very important to assist the patient manage the health condition.
The team member (with the help of the RN), should ensure the patient and his/her family understands the need for dietary modification in relation to management of the heart condition.
What is the role of physical activity in managing Heart Failure? Patients with heart failure should undertake moderate physical activities especially when symptoms become moderate or mild. However, for severe symptoms, bed rest is the best approach. Exercises make the heart muscles stronger. It keeps the body active bereft of either chest pains or any other suchlike symptoms (Abraham & Krum, 2007). Additionally, physical activities lower cholesterol levels and blood pressure. Moreover, regular exercises help in weight loss. For patients with both heart failure and diabetes, exercises assist in controlling blood sugar. Physical exercises also keep bones strong. More importantly, physical activities increase the body’s aerobic activities. This enhances blood flow and enables the heart to utilize oxygen effectively. Physical activities also help manage heart failure by eliminating the excess fat, which burdens the heart. When the heart is fit, pumping of blood becomes easier.
How would the RN promote adherence to a daily physical activity routine? RNs can assist in health coaching for patients with heart failure. They help patients gain confidence, knowledge, tools and skills to participate actively in their own care to reach self-identified health objectives. The RN provides training and physical therapy to the patient with heart failure. The nurse can promote the daily physical exercises routine by encouraging the patient and by reminding him/her of the importance of the activities towards heart failure management (Dargie, McMurray & Poole-Wilson, 1996). They provide mentoring and coaching to these patients. RNs are better positioned to manage those patients with heart failure in promoting optimum healthcare and avert unnecessary costs and service duplication. The RN should ensure the patients weigh themselves every morning. This is especially for patients with severe-to-moderate heart failure.
Which health care discipline, in addition to the RN, is best suited to help with physical activity? Being active when a patient has heart failure is an imperative not an option.
Since exercise levels vary from patient-to-patient, the RN provides advice as to the most-suitable type of exercises to undertake. Patients with heart valve difficulties should never exercise. The most suitable healthcare discipline to assist with physical activities is cardiology.
This is because the discipline provides the underlying rationale behind physical activities vis-à-vis successful heart failure management. Moreover, it is important for the patient to comprehend the essence of such physical activities in light of the need to manage his/her heart failure condition.
This is because cardiology deals with the functioning, structure and heart disorders. Understanding the cause of heart failure and the need to manage the condition is the primary step towards owning the physical activity initiative as advocated by the RN or even a cardiologist.
How will this team member collaborate with the RN, the patient and the family to help promote physical activity and a safe transition to home? Within the healthcare team, everyone can effectively integrate coaching elements in their exchanges with patients.
A RN is the head coach in the team. However, health coaches could be Medical Assistants (MAs), social workers, nurses, health educators, community health workers or even patients to provide support and training.
RNs should build confidence, provide tools to patients and impart skills related to promotion of physical activities. The team member should collaborate with the RN to ensure that the patient’s safe transition to home is realized by the helping the family to understand why it is important to support the patient towards heart failure management.
This is integral in determining whether the family will continue assisting the patient proceed with the physical activities to help him/her manage the health condition. Conclusion Indeed, this essay has demonstrated that the prevalence of heart failure is a threat to the health of most people. It is now not only common amongst baby boomers only but also in other population segments. Fortunately, with the right kind of support, it is possible to manage heart failure disease. Through a multimodal approach, a patient can handle the condition more positively. With timely and proper medical attention coupled with both physical exercises and dietary modifications, come in handy in positively managing heart failure.

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