Risk Factors for Congestive Heart Failure

Risk Factors for Congestive Heart Failure Congestive heart failure is a syndrome characterized by the inability of the heart to pump enough blood and oxygen to meet the bodies energy needs, an also blood supply. Due to the inefficient pumping associated with heart failure, it then causes a backup of blood in the veins leading to the heart and causes the kidneys to retain fluid, thats when the body tissues start to swell. Heart failure can occur due to many causes such as, coronary heart disease, a heart valve disorder, a heart attack, or exposure to toxins, such as excessive alcohol use. In some people heart failure, will cause the heart muscle to weaken, and it wont pump as it should; in others, the heart failure will cause the heart muscle to become stiff, and between heartbeats the heart wont fill with enough blood. There are four main conditions that lead to heart diseases which causes heart failure, they are: congenital heart disease, heart attack and rheumatic heart disease. With coronary artery disease; a healthy coro nary artery opens, elastic, smooth, and slick. The walls expand and are very flexible to enable more blood through when the heart needs to work harder. The coronary artery disease over time makes an injury to the lining of the walls, making the injury of the arteries more susceptible, to atherosclerosis and the production of blood clots. Due to plaque buildup, it reduces blood flow, and narrows the arteries, so due to the narrowness blood clots will likely form. A heart attack is when the blood supply to the heart is slowed or stopped due to a blockage. Which refers to the coronary artery disease, the blockage happens due to the buildup of plaque. The congenital heart disease usually starts at birth. It is when the heart or the blood vessels near the heart are not normally developed before birth. Rheumatic heart disease describes a group of acute or chronic heart disorders that occurs when one has a rheumatic fever. When having this fever, a heart valve can become damaged. It is an inflammatory disease that can affect tissues of the body, especially the tissue within the heart, or the joint tissues, brain tissues, or skin tissues. The correlation of how all these coincide with each other are very evident, one triggers off another. The first, main symptom of heart failure is fatigue. As the conditions gets worse, shortness of breath, wheezing start occurring during exertion and while resting. If fluid accumulates in the legs, or ankles causing swelling, some sleep with elevated legs, and this makes breathing easier as well. A chronic cough can result as well due to the fluid in the legs. For those who are less active, a buildup of fluid can take place in the middle portion of the body, cause urination to take place excessively during the night, or a person can experience weight gain due to all the access fluid. For a heart attack symptoms, can include pain in the chest, neck, or jaw, sudden discomfort in the chest that doesnt subside over time, sweating, and difficulty breathing. Congenital artery disease has symptoms such as: heart murmurs, bluish tint to the skin, lips, or fingernails, and shortness of breath. Rheumatic heart disease includes excessive fatigue, heart palpitations, thumping in the chest, and s hortness of breath. As for coronary heart disease, it slows the flow of blood, and has a fatty buildup of plaque causing the slowness of blood. To be diagnosed with congestive heart failure, the doctor will review medical history, ask a series of questions such as the extent of how active one can be before the shortness of breath, and all other symptoms are happening, there will be an examination and the doctor will check vital signs, check the heart rate and rhythm, listen for aby abnormalities, press on skin of the ankles to check for swelling. An EKG, and x-ray will probably be done to check for any enlargement of the heart and to check for fluid in the lungs. For the four causes that lead to heart failure; coronary artery disease, heart attack, congenital heart disease, and rheumatic heart disease, it is same process, doctor will review medical history, ask a series of questions about the symptoms the patient is experiencing, listening to the heart. To diagnose heart disease, a coronary angiography is performed. It involves taking x-rays of the coronary arteries and the vessels that supply blood to the heart. An echocard iogram is used to record sound waves to create a picture of the hear; these waves show the shape, texture, and movement of the heart valves, and the size of the heart chambers and how well they are working. An EKG can be performed also to check to see how well the heart is functioning by measuring the electrical activity of the heart, it can detect abnormal heart rhythms that could have causes blood clots to form. Risk factors that associate with heart disease are obesity, excess weight increases the strain on the heart and increases the risk of developing heart disease, because obesity increases blood pressure, and blood cholesterol and then that can lead to diabetes. Hormone replacement therapy, some physicians believe it can prevent heart disease in women, but soon discovered it is harmful using the combined hormones who already have coronary artery disease. Stress and anger can cause heart disease. Scientist believe poor managed anger and stress can contribute to heart disease. Angina, which is chest pain which Is the main system of any coronary artery disease. To avoid heart failure, you must prevent heart disease, by eating healthy, controlling your blood pressure and cholesterol level, maintaining normal body weight, exercise regularly, and try not to smoke. The effects of the condition are the same. If you develop a heart disease, heart failure can come. If you develop congenital heart disease, you are born with it. If you are obese you can have it in early teen years. Mainly this occurs in ages 60+. Treatment available for heart failure is a lifelong condition but to reduce the symptoms and improving life span, the doctor may prescribe medication, and a low salt diet. There is no cure for heart disease, it is a condition that requires lifelong care. For medications, this is for people with moderate control of the disease, and they just make lifestyle changes, and take medications such as nitrates which that relieve chest pain, but it cant clear blocked arteries. There are other medications that help such as antiplatelet, ace inhibitors, beta blockers, calcium channel blockers, and nitrates. Surgery could be a treatment option, because it improves the blood flow to the heart muscle, it Is called Coronary Artery Bypass. Another one that can help is called counter pulsation, inflatable cuffs are placed on the legs and lower abdomen, and so when the heart relaxes the cuffs will inflate and then push the blood vessels of the heart. It is repeated over a series of days and the stimulates improved blood flow to the heart. For people experiencing a heart attack, there is no treatment, but they should seek medical help right away. Advances in medicine and the choice of having a halter lifestyle will decrees chances of death from heart disease. The outlook depends on the patients age, the severity of the heart failure, and heart disease. If it develops and has a treatable cause, some people can regain normal heart function after having treatment. Having treatment people still can enjoy a productive life. References http://search.credoreference.com.prx-sbbcollege.lirn.net/content/entry/hhphealth/heart_failure/0?searchId=a0974ee4-08db-11e7-b7bc-12c1f5c39a71result=7 http://search.credoreference.com.prx-sbbcollege.lirn.net/content/topic/congestive_heart_failure?searchId=a0974ee4-08db-11e7-b7bc-12c1f5c39a71 http://search.credoreference.com.prx-sbbcollege.lirn.net/content/entry/galegph/heart_disease/0?searchId=a0974ee4-08db-11e7-b7bc-12c1f5c39a71result=20 http://search.credoreference.com.prx-sbbcollege.lirn.net/content/entry/hupwh/congestive_heart_failure/0?searchId=27bd9f65-08e9-11e7-a9b8-0aea1e3b2a47result=0PHPSESSID=1umtuv34msp2lhp90kpcgagpn0 http://search.credoreference.com.prx-sbbcollege.lirn.net/content/entry/columency/congestive_heart_failure/0?searchId=27bd9f65-08e9-11e7-a9b8-0aea1e3b2a47result=1PHPSESSID=1umtuv34msp2lhp90kpcgagpn0

Effects of Nurse Staffing on Patients Outcomes Essay

This study focuses on the issue of nursing staffing and its effects on the outcomes of the patients. To begin with, the tem nursing staffing will be defined and followed by a discussion of nursing staffing in relation to the nurses themselves. Nursing staffing levels and their effects on the patient outcomes will also be discussed with regards to morbidity and mortality besides other indicators of patient outcomes, the impact of nursing staffing levels to quality of care as well as an overview of past studies as far as the relationship between nursing staffing levels and the outcome of the patient is concerned. Nursing staffing The term nursing staffing refers to the levels of nurses that are employed at a particular institution. Normally, the nursing staffing levels are measured as ratios of nurses to their patients within their institutions and the higher the ratio, the more preferred as it is thought to mean a better outcome for patients in their care whereas lower ratios are associated with poorer patient outcomes. Nursing staffing and the nurses Nursing staffing has been investigated with the nurses themselves in mind and such studies have included the Schmalenberg and Kramer study of 2009 which sought to establish and assess the factors that influence the perceptions or the opinions of nurses as far as nursing staffing levels are concerned. Nursing staffing has also been studied with regards to the negative effects on the nurses such as nurse burnout and job dissatisfaction such as the study carried out by Aiken et al in 2002. As far as international literature is concerned, most of the studies that look at the impact of nursing staffing on the nurses themselves concentrates on adverse outcomes such as physical injuries, encounters with aggression and violence, sickness and absenteeism, self reports of job satisfaction levels as well as burnout. According to the study by Schmalenberg and Kramer (2009), the nurses’ opinion of their working environment is a strong predictor of their opinions as far as the staffing of their units and of their institutions is concerned. Additionally, the factors that were found to profoundly affect this opinion are the competence of the staff, teamwork, flexible delivery system, and a balance of positions in relation to the needs of the patients that are under their care. The study by Aiken et al in 2002 revealed that there was a higher chance of nurses experiencing job related burnout in hospitals with high Patient nurse ratios. Further, nurses in institutions which had the highest rates of patient to nurse ratios were twice likely to suffer from dissatisfaction from their jobs. These influenced the decisions of nurses to leave their current jobs and thus creating more staffing problems that would lead to more negative patient outcomes. Nursing Staffing and the Patient There are various outcomes that are thought to be directly related to the staffing of nurses in any institution are associated with the patients, such as morbidity mortality, nosocomial infections, falls, pressure ulcers, suicide, and length of hospital stay, medication errors, post operative complications, infection rates and adverse events such as cardiac or respiratory arrests, most of which are negative patient outcomes (Flynn and Mckeown, 2009). There are various studies that have focused on this relationship such as the study by Aiken et al in 2002 however, according to Liang et al (2012); most of these studies have been carried out in western countries. Flynn and Mckeown also studied the relationship between the patient outcome and the nurse staff levels in a bid to identify information that would enable nursing managers to determine the optimum nursing staff levels. The quality of care that is given in nursing homes, which is also an antecedent of the patient outcome has been investigated in studies such as the study done by Castle and Engberg min 2003. Some of the studies that have been used to investigate the relationship between patient mortality as an outcome of nursing staffing levels have been cross sectional and critics have argued that these have failed to include a direct link between staffing and individual patient experiences besides lacking sufficient statistical controls (Needleman et al 2011). One of the patients’ outcomes that have been associated with low levels of nursing staffing is the mortality of patients (Aiken et al 2002). This study was carried out in Pennsylvania hospitals whereby the patients to nurses’ ratio were in the range of 4:1 to 8:1. In the course of the study, 4535 out of 232 342 surgical patients died within thirty days (Aiken et al 2002). This study concluded that four patients less for every nurse would reduce in fewer deaths in the same time and not just in the surgical wards but among all the patients hospitalized in California (Aiken et al 2002). A study by Liang et al in 2012 confirmed the relationship between nursing staffing levels and patient mortality. Cho et al also investigated the relationship between nurse staffing and negative effects such as morbidity, mortality and medical costs. Nurse staffing levels were considered as nursing hours and as nurse proportions and the higher the number of patients that a nurse was supposed to take care of, the higher the rate of mortalities and complications such as atelectasis and pressure ulcers among others in post operative pneumonia patients (2003). This was attributed to the higher than usual demands of taking care of these patients which demanded lower patient to nurse ratios. In yet another study by Kiekkas et al in 2008, the relationship between nursing overload and mortality among intensive care unit patients was investigated whereby the nursing workload was considered the result of total patient care demands and nurse staffing levels. Of the three hundred and ninety six patients who were admitted in the intensive care unit of a Greek Hospital, one hundred and two of them died. The workload of the nurses was found to be significant especially as far as mortality as an outcome was concerned in surgical patients, medical patients, and both groups together which indicated that patient care demands were an important moderator in the course of investigating the relationship between nursing staff levels and mortality (Kiekkas et al, 2008). Staffing of nurses and work environment variables have been assessed with regards to their effects on patient outcomes in a conceptual model by Meyer et al in 2009. The study was carried out in Canadian hospitals in their cardiac and cardiovascular patient units whereby the PCDM together with regression models was tested. PCDM in this case is an acronym for the Patient Care Delivery Model and in addition to confirming the relationship between nurse staffing levels and patients outcomes , the study indicated that patient outcome are also the result of factors associated with patients themselves as well as factors associated with the nurses (Meyer et al, 2009. Additionally, Liang et al established some of the reasons behind the high patient to nurse ratio in Taiwan most prominent of which was the desire of hospitals to control their expenditure but which had negative outcomes for its patients. Flynn and Mckeown in 2009 found out that it was important for nurse managers and others that are involved in the recruitment of nurses to critically examine the common methods that are used for the purposes of determining nursing skill mix as well as staffing levels in their effectiveness in the course of health service organization and delivery. This is in spite of the fact that most studies have been unable to accurately determine or support a minimum level of nurse-patient ratios in various hospitals (Flynn and Mckeown, 2009). Castle and Engberg in 2009 proposed that poor staffing in nursing homes was the result of high rates of turnover among the patients, low staffing levels, low stability levels and low use of agency staff and that poor staffing in nursing homes is accompanied by poor patient outcomes. However, in order to enhance staffing in nursing homes, administrators should focus on all and not just a few select characteristics (Castle and Engberg, 2009). In response to the failure of cross sectional studies to establish or demonstrate a direct link between levels of nursing staffing and patient experiences besides lack of statistical controls, Needleman et al carried out their own study of the nursing staffing levels and the outcomes of the patients in 2011. This study utilized the Cox proportional hazards model and established that the staffing of nurses below the recommended levels was related to patient mortality. Conclusion This study has been a literature review with regards to nursing staffing levels and patient outcomes. The definition of nursing staffing has been defined as well as the effects of nursing staffing on the nurses themselves besides the effects of nursing staffing levels on the patient outcomes. This has been done with various studies that have been done in the past concerning the subject.

Islam Definition Essay

For the past few months I have been overseas working in the wonderful country of India. I’ve observed many different things; many unusual things about this country. India has a wide variety of cultures and religions. The holiday I have learned about is called Hajj. Hajj means ‘to set out for a place’. Hajj is the pilgrimage that Muslims make to Makkah or also called Mecca , Saudi Arabia, and is one of the five basic requirements of Islam. It is a religious high point of a Muslim’s life and is an event that every Muslim dreams of being part of. Hajj is a religious obligation to be fulfilled at least once in the course of the life of each Muslim law grants, and is a series of detailed rituals. It is a Muslims obligation to be mindful of their friends and family and to all humans whatsoever. Islamic followers believe that every nation should have a unity so they can all worship God. They believe that through culture people will come together as a whole to praise God, and learn each other’s difficulties. All official duties are suppose to be completed between the ninth and thirteenth day of Hajj. There are three main pillars that are to be performed during Hajj. The first pillar is to get into a state of â€Å"Ihram† and intend to perform the pilgrimage. The second pillar is to stay at the field of â€Å"Arafat† on the ninth day of Hajj. If the person cannot complete the pilgrimage then he/she will have to try to complete it the following year. The third pillar is additional circling of the â€Å"Ka’ba† which is done after the first pillar and is performed from the tenth day of Hajj till the end of the month. These past couple months in India have been a great experience. I’ve learned a lot of new things, which has been something different for me. I would love to come back and visit all of the people that I have met, because everyone was so nice. Learning about the Hajj was very interesting to me, and I will go back and share all of my experiences with everyone back home.

A Brief Note On Type II And Diabetic Conditions - 1454 Words

It was estimated that in 2010, there were 221 million people worldwide with Diabetes. Type II Diabetes is commonly diagnosed as a myriad of chronic diseases associated with elevated blood glucose levels (Hyperglycemia) and accounts for roughly 90-95% of all cases related to Diabetes. This is a result of the being resistance to insulin produced by the pancreas, or the inability to produce adequate levels of insulin. Studies have shown that there are many risk factors that can and cannot be modified. There are physical, financial and emotional costs to the individual affected by Type II Diabetes. Treatments for diabetic conditions are usually aimed at relieving symptoms or reducing further damage to improve the patient’s quality of life. (Hill, 2009). Middle aged individuals with Type II Diabetes need to educate themselves about their disease and significantly change their lifestyles to better their chances of living a long life and reduce out of pocket expenses for treatm ent. Medical professional have divided the diseases into two categories: Macrovascular and Microvascular. Macrovascular affects the vasculature of the body, mainly the arteries and veins. Involvement of such can increase the risk for stroke, myocardial infarction and deep vein thrombosis. â€Å"Type II Diabetes is typically diagnosed in the setting of Metabolic Syndrome, which includes abdominal obesity (increased abdominal girth), hypertension (high blood pressure), hyperlipidemia (elevatedShow MoreRelatedIntegrated Health Promotion Plan For Mr. Laurane2522 Words   |  11 Pagesfor Mr. Laurane that will hopefully set him on the path to leading a healthier, and thus longer, life. I. Identification of Issues 1.1 Brief Health History and Risk Factors as an Individual and a Family Member As mentioned, the patient’s name is Joshua John Laurane. He is an African American male of 69 years with a past medical history of diabetes (Type II), hypertension, congestive heart failure, and high cholesterol. He first presented with these underlying issues as well as present ED withRead MoreBenefits Of Physical Training Patients With Diabetes And Chronic Kidney Disease2469 Words   |  10 Pages nearly 26million Americans are suffering from Diabetes.3 Furthermore, CDC reported in 2014 that there are chances of 40% American adults developing diabetes in their lifetime and half of the ethnic minorities will be affected. It is worthwhile to note that obesity was reported as the reason for the tremendous increase.4 Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is a common disorder and occurs in the elderly population. In younger patients, it is associated with the loss of kidney function over a periodRead MoreReference Guide for Pharmacy Technician Exam Essay4921 Words   |  20 PagesOSTEOPOROSIS and HYPOCALCEMIA ANTI PLATELETS and ANTI COAGULANTS SMOKING CESSATION AIDS AGENTS THYROID ULCERATIVE COLITIS DIABETES-RELATED DRUGS PHARMACY LAW PHARMACEUTICAL CALCULATIONS Krisman 62 65 67 69 69 70 71 75 86 SECTION-II 44 45 46 47 QUESTIONS ANSWERS PRACTICE TEST ANSWERS www.pharmacyexam.com 92 136 177 189 5 Reference Guide for Pharmacy Technician Exam Krisman SECTION -I www.pharmacyexam.com 6 Reference Guide for Pharmacy TechnicianRead MoreMyocardial Infaraction6192 Words   |  25 Pages(ACEI) with spironolactone to treat such resistant hypertension may be more effective than adding an angiotensin receptor blocker to an ACEI. The role of spironolactone has also been shown to decrease albuminuria in chronic kidney disease including diabetic nephropathy in the presence of maximal dosages of ACEI. The effect of aldosterone in metabolic syndrome is also discussed in this review. PMID: 20448074 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher] 2010 May 10;170(9):759-64. Rethinking the epidemiologyRead MoreThe Effects of Juvenile Diabetes on Children9802 Words   |  40 Pagesto get the benefit of the food which he or she eats, particularly sugar and starch. There are three types of diabetes: Juvenile diabetes, Adult-onset diabetes and Gestalt diabetes. Any person of any age can contract the disease whether through hereditary or acquired by chance. It has global and societal implications and is now called an epidemic.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The researchers would focus more on the type one (1) diabetes which is Juvenile Insulin Dependent Diabetes or JIDD which affects children or agesRead MorePathogram: Chronic Respiratory Failure Essays7624 Words   |  31 PagesCare |Assessment |Medical/Nursing Diagnoses |Treatment | |Brief review of the patient |Medical Diagnoses: |Therapeutic Modalities | |Age: 86 years old Read MoreCare Delivery Performance Management6877 Words   |  28 Pages 2. Nursing staff: It includes registered nurses. 3. Ancillary staff: It includes Lab technicians. 4. Clerical Staff: It includes Staff which carries out registration, Billing, Cashiering, Secretarial and Medical record functions. II. RECEPTION AND ENQUIRY Reception is the main place of contact between patient and the hospital. An outpatient is usually a frightened person who needs reassurance and proper guidance and reception is the very correct place for it. A reception and enquiryRead MoreCase Based Pediatrics for Medical Students10891 Words   |  44 PagesTEST A PRACTICE TEST I Situation 1 – Nurse Mito is assigned to the triage area. While on duty, he assesses the condition of a client with asthma. She has difficulty breathing and her respiratory rate is 45 per minute. The doctor prescribed epinephrine 0.3 mg subcutaneously. 1. The medication for epinephrine injection for the client is to: a. Reduce anaphylaxis b. Relieve hypersensitivity to allergen c. Relieve respiratory distress due to bronchial spasm d. Restore client’sRead More7 Ps of Service Marketing for a Bank20620 Words   |  83 Pagesuse both primary and secondary data. i) The primary sources of data are as follows: Face to face conversation with the bank officers and staffs. Direct conversation with the clients. Practical Deskwork. Observation of different marketing approaches. ii) The secondary sources of data are as follows: Website of the PBL Annual report of the bank. Different manuals and publications of the bank. Unpublished data received from the Branch. Different text books. Different circulars sent by Head Office ofRead MoreNutrition Assignment 412450 Words   |  50 Pagesï » ¿HUMAN NUTRITION II - FOOD MANAGEMENT – NUMBER 4 LESSON1 ASSIGNMENT 1. Cooking is the application of one of two types of heat. Name them and then classify all the methods of cooking (baking, blanching etc) listed in your course according to which type of heat they use. Cooking is the application of one of two types of heats which are using moist or dry methods of cooking. Baking: Baking is a commonly used cooking technique that applies dry heat to a food, along with an air flow. It