Canadian journal of cardiovascular nursing = Journal canadien en soins infirmiers cardio-vasculaires最新文献

Survivors of ventricular fibrillation cardiac arrest have poor and often devastating neurological outcomes despite advances in resuscitation techniques and services (Bernard et al., 2002; Collins & Samworth, 2008). In an effort to increase survival rates, improve neurological outcomes and reduce mortality for surviving patients, clinical trials have shown that a mild state of therapeutic hypothermia (32 degrees C to 34 degrees C) has been linked to improved patient outcomes post cardiac arrest (Koran, 2008; Lee & Asare, 2010). Many hospitals in Canada currently use therapeutic hypothermia (TH), but the nursing care requires advanced nursing knowledge and skills. In an effort to prepare registered nurses to care for patients receiving TH, a specially designed education program was implemented at the Rouge Valley Health System Hospital (RVHS) in Ontario. Busy nurses need flexibility in the delivery of programs in the clinical setting, and this program was designed to meet that need with a combination of self-paced modules, lectures, discussions and a return demonstration. In this article, the authors discuss the nursing care of post cardiac arrest patients receiving TH, and the design and implementation of the education program.

Hypertension prevention, detection, follow-up and medication adjustment depend on valid blood pressure measurement. Many factors should be taken into consideration to get accurate blood pressure readings: the blood pressure measurement method, the equipment used and the patient preparation. This column will focus on the importance of the cuff for blood pressure measurement.

All nurses should have an understanding of heart sounds and be proficient in cardiac auscultation. Unfortunately, this skill is not part of many nursing school curricula, nor is it necessarily a required skillfor employment. Yet, being able to listen and accurately describe heart sounds has tangible benefits to the patient, as it is an integral part of a complete cardiac assessment. In this two-part article, I will review the fundamentals of cardiac auscultation, how cardiac anatomy and physiology relate to heart sounds, and describe the various heart sounds. Whether you are a beginner or a seasoned nurse, it is never too early or too late to add this important diagnostic skill to your assessment tool kit.

Background: The goal of this pilot study was to examine the effects of a structured interdisciplinary education program on blood pressure, knowledge, anthropometric measures, medication compliance, behavioural risk factors and quality of life.

Method: In this quasi-experimental study, participants were assigned to an intervention (n = 21) or a regular care group (n = 19). The intervention group attended four weekly sessions related to hypertension. Anthropometric measures and blood pressure were recorded at baseline, one, three and six months for all participants. Both groups completed questionnaires on knowledge, health-related behaviours and quality of life at these same intervals.

Results: The reduction in systolic blood pressure was greater in the intervention group than in the regular care group (p = 0.05). However, there were no between group differences with regard to the other variables studied.

Conclusion: Participation in a structured interdisciplinary education program was associated with a reduction of systolic blood pressure, thus contributing to a risk reduction for cardiovascular disease.

The first of this two-part article on heart sounds was in the Spring 2013 issue of the Canadian Journal of Cardiovascular Nursing (Reimer-Kent, 2013). Part 1 emphasized the importance of all nurses having an understanding of heart sounds and being proficient in cardiac auscultation. The article also focused on an overview of the fundamentals of cardiac auscultation and basic heart sounds. This article provides an overview of the anatomy and pathophysiology related to valvular heart disease and describes the array of heart sounds associated with stenotic or regurgitant aortic and mitral valve conditions.

Patients are often sent home with complex discharge plans that can become overwhelming and difficult to follow. By contrast, implementing effective teaching at the time of discharge can lead to a decrease in the rate of hospital readmissions and mortality for patients post discharge (Koelling, Johnson, Cody, & Aaronson, 2005). Unfortunately, many of the discharge teaching practices and programs used in health care settings have been criticized as being ineffective. Ensuring that patients are prepared for the transition from hospital to home after a cardiac event will require a fundamental shift in how teaching is performed in acute care settings. In this paper, the authors identify and examine models and concepts relevant to improving the process of providing discharge education in acute care settings. This includes attention to adult education, self-management and patient-centred care. A practical framework was developed: Important Elements of Effective Discharge Teaching. This framework can be used by frontline staff to initiate realistic practice change and promote the use of evidence-based strategies related to discharge teaching in acute care settings. The Important Elements of Effective Discharge Teaching framework provides health care practitioners with a tool to evaluate and reflect on their current professional practice and provides examples of teaching strategies that are based on best evidence. Nurses can incorporate elements of this framework while providing health teaching to patients after a cardiac event.

Successful writing of a research or clinical abstract requires meticulous adherence to the professional society's call for abstracts and its particular specifications. The abstract must clearly answer why this research was carried out, how did you do it, what did you find, and what are the important nursing implications for clinical practice, education and research.

Background: End-of-life (EOL) communication is lacking despite patients with heart failure (HF) and their caregivers desiring it.

Aim: To review the existing literature to identify barriers that inhibit EOL communication in the HF population.

Method: We chose an integrative literature review method and began by searching CINAHL, Medline, PsychInfo, Web of Science, Health Source Nursing Academic, Evidence-Based Medicine Reviews (EBMR), dissertations and theses searches through the University of Victoria and through Proquest from 1995 to 2011. DATA EVALUATION: EOL communication regarding wishes, prognosis and options for care rarely happen. We noted that patients lacked understanding of HF, feared engaging health care professionals (HCP), did not wish to talk about EOL, or waited for HCPs to initiate the conversation. HCPs lacked communication skills, focused on curative therapies and found diagnosing and prognosticating HF difficult. Limited time and space for conversations played a role.

Conclusion: The challenge of diagnosing and prognosticating HF, its unpredictable trajectory, HCP inexperience in recognizing nearing EOL and lack of communication skills lead to HCPs avoiding EOL conversations. Four categories of barriers to communication were identified: patient/caregiver, HCP, disease-specific and organizational challenges.