Why Is Heart Failure Important

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Nearly 5.1 million people in the U.S. suffer from heart disease. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, about half of these people will die within five years of receiving their diagnosis and one in every nine deaths is attributed to heart failure. As future nurses, it is important to understand the causes, risk factors, early warning signs and diagnostic tests that can be used to treat patients. There are also nursing specific interventions that can be done to educate patients on how to live a healthier lifestyle and decrease chance of premature death.

Understanding Heart Failure and its Primary Causes Heart failure occurs when the heart is unable to properly fill will blood or pump blood according to the body’s …show more content…
Lewis identifies ethnic disparities in heart failure including the fact that, “African Americans have a higher incidence of heart failure, develop heart failure at an earlier age, and experience higher mortality rates related to heart failure than whites.” She also cites a genetic link in heart disease although why some people have the link and others do not is unknown. Other factors contributing to heart failure include hypertension, diabetes, obesity, chronically elevated serum cholesterol levels and tobacco use. Many of these risk factors are lifestyle choice, which is why it is important to educate patients regarding modifications of harmful habits. Simple changes can stop or delay the development of this disease

Diagnostic Procedures and Daily Labs in Heart Failure Patients
In order to diagnose a person with heart failure, several different procedures and lab tests should be performed. Health care providers begin with a physical examination and some symptoms, like pulmonary edema, may be more obvious than others. Lewis cites that heart failure is often mistaken for other conditions such as anemia and lung disease, which can make a definitive diagnosis difficult. It is important that the underlying cause be determined not only to treat the symptoms specific to that condition, but to provide more thorough care for the heart failure
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