Heart Failure and the Ventricular Assist Device
Presented by Jo Ann Pelaez-Fisher
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This course will educate health care providers caring for patients with heart failure. The course will describe what heart failure is and the difference between right-sided heart failure, left-sided heart failure, and congestive heart failure. Details about which patients are eligible to receive a ventricular assist device are covered. Indications and risks, including lifestyle modifications that can be implemented to improve quality of life, are presented. This course is designed for nurses in any setting but is particularly targeted to nurses in the long-term acute care facility, skilled nursing facility, rehabilitation facility, or home health.
Meet your instructor
Jo Ann Pelaez-Fisher
Jo Ann holds a PhD in Nursing from the University of Hawai’i at Manoa, where her dissertation focused on the assessment of cultural competence, dementia attitude, and knowledge of Alzheimer’s disease among tertiary health care providers. She holds a Master of Science in Healthcare Administration from Bellevue University in…
Chapters & learning objectives
1. What Is Heart Failure?
An overview of heart failure is presented. This chapter will cover how right-sided heart failure, left-sided heart failure, and congestive heart failure differ, and will describe presentations of each. Good comprehension of what decreased cardiac output is will prepare nurses to recognize when their patients are in heart failure, either in the health care facility or at home.
2. Ventricular Assist Device
A patient who has left-sided heart failure with poor outcomes after medication management and lifestyle modification may be a candidate for receiving a ventricular assist device. A discussion of what a ventricular assist device is, indications for the device, and what benchmarks a patient must meet in order to be considered an eligible recipient will be presented. Health care providers who can understand the purpose of a ventricular assist device can provide education to the patients at their facilities.
3. Risks Involved With Ventricular Assist Device
Ventricular assist devices are surgically implanted and may have risks involved. Risks include bleeding, blood clots, infection, device malfunction, or right-sided heart failure. Immediate identification of surgical risks by health care providers is important to promote best outcomes for cardiac patients. Teaching patients the possible risks involved with the implantation of ventricular assist devices is highlighted.
4. Lifestyle Modifications With a Ventricular Assist Device
Patients who have received ventricular assist devices will need to modify their activity and dietary intake. This chapter will give a brief overview of how patients can increase their physical activity and what foods to limit with their diet. Health care providers who know how to manage patients after implantation of ventricular assist devices can improve the quality of life of their patients.
