Heart Failure And The Elderly Population - 1608 Words

Heart failure is more commonly diagnosed in the elderly population. There are ways to help manage heart failure like lifestyle modifications and use of pharmacology, and assessment for surgical intervention. Treatment of heart failure requires intensive medical, dietary, behavioral, and lifestyle modification to achieve improved quality of life, fewer hospitalizations, and decreased mortality (Singh, H., McGregor, Nigro, Higginson, and Larsen, 2014). Heart failure is a complex condition that requires multidisciplinary collaboration to assist with symptom management. Heart failure patients need to modify their lifestyles for example, limiting sodium intake, weighing daily and calling the primary care provider with a 2-3 pounds weight†¦show more content†¦Healthcare professionals need to provide patients with the necessary knowledge and tools to participate in management decisions about their illness to foster empowerment to comply with their prescribed treatment plan and a dherence to self-management behavior. Pharmacological treatments with diuretics, angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors, angiotensin receptor blockers or aldosterone antagonist, and beta-blockers are essential for the treatment of heart failure and are effective in improving symptoms of heart failure and patient well-being. Diuretics are administered to help get rid of the excess fluid that helps improve breathing associated with shortness of breath, at rest or on exertion. Diuretics provide relief from symptoms and signs of pulmonary and venous congestion by promotion of fluid loss through the kidneys. Diuretics, for example, Furosemide helps improve breathing status, but monitoring patients for dehydration and kidney problems is crucial. Patient education is essential to ensuring medication adherence and early identification of adverse effects and potential for drug interactions. Educating the patients about medications side effects is important as most patients are noncompliant due to side effects. Teaching patients to monitor blood pressure and heart rate using the return demonstration is important when taking the medications and the need to call the primary care physician for