Preventing readmissions of patients with any chronic disease process Essay

Preventing readmissions of patients with any chronic disease process is difficult, but it's especially difficult with patients that have heart failure. Heart failure causes insufficient oxygen delivered to tissues and organs due to the heart not having the ability to pump enough blood. According to Amakali (2015), the heart failure patient is at risk for edema and metabolic acidosis from venous congestion and the withholding of metabolic wastes in the body (p.1). School (2014) found "In the United States, heart failure (HF) has been identified as one of the most expensive cardiovascular illnesses and leading cause of hospitalization among Medicare recipients (p. 224). This information points out how important it is for nurses of all backgrounds to use evidenced based interventions for heart failure patients to prevent readmission.
One important nursing teaching point for heart failure patients is having the patient compare their daily weight to the ideal dry weight that their primary healthcare provider has established for them using the same scale at the same time (Mahramus, Penoyer, Sole, Wilson, Chamberlain, & Warrington, 2013, p. 198). Nurses should also educate patients that if they gain weight more than several pounds in a couple of days, that it is a sign of fluid retention and that they should call their healthcare provider (Mahramus et al., 2013, p. 202). Another key principle of managing heart failure, is educating the patient that the should avoid consuming liquids more than what their healthcare provider has set for them to prevent fluid retention (Mahramus et al., 2013, p. 202). Nurses should also provide education to their patients to observe for signs of swelling in their lower legs and abdomen, which is an indicator of edema (Mahramus et al., 2013, p. 202).
Another nursing intervention that is valuable to the heart failure patient is the education about certain lifestyle medications that will have to be made by the patient (Amakali, 2015, p. 2). According to Mahramus et al., (2013), patients should participate in daily activities such as ambulating or doing exercises while sitting down according to their healthcare provider (p. 202). To prevent the patient from over exerting themselves while exercising, they should take frequent rest periods hypoxia (Mahramus et al., 2013, p. 202). Another lifestyle teaching point that the nurse can do is the education about avoiding air pollution in the heart failure patient (Amakali, 2015, p. 2). According to Amakali (2015), heart failure patients should be instructed to avoid smoking and second had smoke to prevent respiratory distress (p. 2). Making these lifestyle modifications will prevent disease exacerbation and prevent an increased workload on the heart (Amakali, 2015, p. 2). A potential barrier that could prevent the patient from following this education would be living with smokers in their household that don't wish to stop smoking or have a difficult time with abstaining from cigarette use.
It is also important for the nurse to provide teaching about diet modification in the heart failure patient to prevent hospital readmission (Amakali, 2015, p. 2).