NRS 429 Benchmark – Community Teaching Plan: Community Presentation Solution
Benchmark – Community Teaching Plan: Community Presentation Solution
What is Congestive Heart Failure?
´Progressive chronic condition of the heart
´Affects the pumping mechanism of the heart
´Exists in two types: heart failure with preserved left ventricular function and heart failure with reduced left ventricular function
´Reduced pumping mechanism result in blood and fluid accumulation in lungs, liver, abdomen, and lower body
Congestive heart failure is a chronic cardiovascular condition. It is progressive in nature. It mainly affects the ability of the heart to pump blood and other body fluids effectively in the body. Congestive heart failure exists in two types. The first one is heart failure with preserved left ventricular function. This type of heart failure is characterized by thickened ventricles that are stiffer than the normal. The effect of the thickening is that there is improper filling of the ventricles, leading to reduced amount of blood being pumped out of the heart during a contraction. The heart failure with reduced left ventricular function is characterized by the enlargement of the left ventricles, which make it hard for the blood to pump blood to the other parts of the body. The effect of reduced pumping of the blood is that fluids accumulate in the lungs, lower body, abdomen and the liver.
Statistics on Congestive Heart Failure
´About 6.2 million people affected in the US
´More than 23 million people affected globally
´Contributed to more than 379000 deaths in the US in 2018
´5-year survival rate is 50%
´Disparities in ethnic prevalence (CDC, 2020)
Congestive heart failure has high prevalence in not only the US but also other global states too. The prevalence of the disease in
America is estimated to affect more than 6.2 million people. In addition, the global statistics shows that more than 23 million people have been affected by the disease. The mortality rate due to congestive heart failure in the US is significantly high. For example, it is estimated that congestive heart failure contributed to more than 379000 deaths in the US in 2018. The survival rate due to congestive heart failure is low. For example, the existing statistics shows that its 5-year survival rate is 50%. The ethnic prevalence of heart failure in America is that individuals from ethnic minority groups are largely affected than the natives. Therefore, there is significant disparities in the burden of the disease in the state.
Causes of Congestive Heart Failure
´Ischemia
´Hypertension
´Valvular inflammation
´Congenital malformations (Pellicori et al., 2020)
Several factors cause congestive heart failure. One of them is tissue ischemia. Ischemia refers to the limited supply of oxygenated blood to a body part or tissue. Limited supply of blood to a specific part of the heart may cause ischemia. Ischemia therefore alters the normal functioning of the heart, leading to fluid and blood accumulation. Hypertension is the other cause of congestive heart failure. Hypertension may lead to hypertrophy of the heart muscles. The hypertrophy often affects the ability of the heart muscles to pump blood, leading to congestive heart failure. The other cause of heart failure is inflammation of the valves of the heart. Inflammation results in reduced or impaired filling and emptying of the heart. The alteration result in heart failure due to increased fluid volume without effective pumping mechanisms to empty the blood in the heart. Congenital malformations also play a role in the development of heart failure in children.
Cant’
´Cardiomyopathy
´Anthracycline toxicity
´Anemia
´Coronary artery disease (CDC, 2020)
The other cause of congestive heart failure is cardiomyopathy. Diseases of the heart muscles may cause heart failure. They can cause thickening or enlargement of the heart muscles, which impair the normal contractility and pumping of blood. Medication use can also cause congestive heart failure. An example is anthracycline toxicity in children, which has been shown to increase the risk of heart failure in this population. Anemia is also implicated to cause heart disease in children. This is largely evident in low resource settings where children are highly prone to anemia and malaria. The diseases of the coronary artery also causes heart failure. The diseases affect the normal filling and emptying of the blood to the heart, leading to altered contractility process.
Risk Factors for Congestive Heart Failure
´Obesity
´Hypertension
´Diabetes
´Coronary artery disease
´Valvular heart disease (Dos Reis Padilha et al., 2018; Shaddy et al., 2018)
Congestive heart failure is associated with a number of risk factors. One of them is obesity. Obesity increases the risk for health problems such as hypertension and diabetes. Hypertension may lead to heart failure if left unmanaged. Hypertension may also lead to other health problems such as atherosclerosis, which is a risk factor for heart disease. Diabetes may also cause vascular complications that are implicated in heart disease. The other risk factor is coronary heart disease. Coronary heart disease may affect the blood flow to the heart and the pumping ability of the heart. The consequence is the precipitation of heart failure. Diseases involving the valves of the heart also act as risk factors for congestive heart failure. Damage to the valve may impair the filling and pumping of the heart leading to heart failure.
Signs and Symptoms of Congestive Heart Failure
´Edema
´Dry cough
´Shortness of breath
´Fatigue (Lai et al., 2019)
The first symptom of congestive heart failure is edema. Edema is attributed to the accumulation of fluids in the interstitial space in the body. The fluids that cannot be pumped by the heart accumulates in the body tissues leading to edema. The accumulation of body fluids in the lungs causes dry cough. Patients try to expire the excess fluids via the lungs leading to excitatory mechanisms that cause dry cough. There is also the shortness of breath due to the increased accumulation of fluids and blood in the lungs. Patients may also complain of fatigue. Fatigue occurs due to the limited or inadequate supply of oxygen to the body tissues. The inadequate supply of oxygen is attributed to the reduced pumping ability of the heart.
Signs and Symptoms of Congestive Heart Failure
´Nocturia
´Dizziness
´Palpitations
´Nausea (Lai et al., 2019)
The other symptom of heart failure is nocturia. Patients often experience frequent urge to urinate at night due to the increased body fluid volume at rest. There is also the symptom of dizziness. Dizziness arises from the reduced amount of oxygenated blood reaching the brain. The reduction in the volume of blood reaching the brain causes dizziness. Patients also experience palpitations. Palpitations arise from the altered mechanisms of blood pumping by the heart. The alteration increases the need for elevated pumping of the heart to compensate the needed oxygen saturation of the body systems. Patients may also experience nausea. Nausea arises from the increased accumulation of the fluids in the abdominal region.