The human heart is a magnificent, complex organ! It is so elegantly designed and a marvel of efficiency. Even though it frequently is mistreated, the heart is ever so reliable. Many an engineer has envied its design, functionality and ease of operation with the entire human body.During their education, nurses learn the anatomy and physiology of the human body. A great deal of time is spent on the study of the cardiovascular system; its complexity and its vulnerability. There are many things that can impact the normal functioning of the heart. In addition to being a caregiver, nurses are educators who have to know how to keep the heart healthy and be able to communicate this to their patients.
A nurse is able to identify cardiac medications; recite heart healthy foods, foods to avoid, what are good physical exercises and detrimental emotional factors. All of this is becomes second nature to a skilled nurse but, unfortunately, the lay person does not know what nurses know about the heart. Today, the public gets most of its health information from print, television and online advertisements and news reports. Some are very accurate, but many are inaccurate. This makes it imperative for nurses to share their valuable knowledge, especially when it comes to ways of maintaining heart health and to correct any misconceptions about care of the heart.
Home health nurses teach and help their patients understand how to assess their individual risk for heart disease. While some risks can be controlled, some cannot. The home health nurse will stress the importance of knowing the risks and assists the patient in making positive choices, such as stopping smoking (one of the leading risks to heart disease).
While one cannot change their patient’s age, gender or family history of heart disease, a home care nurse can develop strategies that a patient can adopt to prevent or to decrease risks. Eating a heart healthy diet; developing an exercise program, maintaining a healthy weight, controlling an elevated blood pressure and elevated cholesterol and controlling other diseases such as Diabetes are a few examples.
The home health nurse will communicate with the patient’s physician about all the medications that are being taking, including over the counter drugs. The nurse will provide the patient with a written, legible list of all medications, dose, and frequency, the name of the physician who ordered the medication and how long the patient has been taking the drug. The nurse will keep the list current and remind the patient to take the list to each and every physician appointment. The home care nurse will advise the patient not to take any drug based on a television or magazine advertisement and to be sure that the doctor approves all medications that are taken without a prescription, including and in particular any aspirin or aspirin based medication.
The home health nurse will advise the patient that heart disease can be treated, but it is a partnership between the patient, the family, the physician and any caregivers involved in the patient’s care is vital to that effort. The home care nurse also will remind the patient that there needs to be open communication and that the most important person on that team is the patient. Nothing can be accomplished without the patient’s full participation.
Vital to every encounter is a nurse’s ability to identify the signs and assess symptoms for impending cardiac conditions. They know what constitutes a cardiac emergency and hopefully their own efforts to develop patient’s knowledge and value of self-care will reduce the number of future cardiac emergencies.
