Heart disease is a condition that involves any issues happening to the heart; frequently, these issues are lethal. The treatment of this illness depends on the type of heart disease. As such, in the long-term care setting, nurses typically use medications. For example, anticoagulants are applied “to prevent harmful clots from forming in the blood vessels” (American Heart Association, n.d., para. 8). Hence, health providers recommend various drug products that can address the causes of heart strokes and secure the patient to some degree. Next, more acute conditions might involve surgery as a treatment. This type of intervention is recommended when problems with the patient’s heart need repair or replacement. For instance, “the most common type of heart surgery for adults is coronary artery bypass grafting” (NIH, 2021, para. 3). Thus, a nurse usually provides not primary care but helps the patients recover after the surgery. However, this care might be insufficient; a more thorough public health approach would include prevention-oriented treatment discussed in this paper.
As a public nurse, I would approach this condition differently. Namely, I would adhere to the principles of public health nurses, which add several necessary actions to that of those mentioned. Specifically, I would try to make the prevention of the complexities related to heart disease the priority of my care. Next, since one of the principles declares that a nurse should address the issue for as many populations as possible, I would identify people who have not yet suffered from the acute forms of heart disease but are at risk (Demarco & Healey-Walsh, 2019). For example, risk groups include elderly and obese people who demonstrate high mortality rates from ischemic heart disease (Nowbar et al., 2019). Hence, I would raise awareness about the danger of the discussed illness among this population and give recommendations for prevention strategies so that to “reach out to all who might benefit from” this information (Demarco & Healey-Walsh, 2019, p. 11). Therefore, I can guarantee that the maximum of my potential use for public health is realized.
Next, several public health nurse interventions can be considered the most appropriate for the prevention of heart disease complexities. First, outreach is the most necessary step in this process, which suggests finding the population at risk and the most relevant information about further interventions. After this, case findings would be necessary; namely, a public health nurse should determine the individuals within the health care department who might suffer from the risk of the disease (Demarco & Healey-Walsh, 2019). Such a survey is required since all nursing research should result in practical use.
Furthermore, counseling is one of the most important measures for primary prevention since it allows individuals to reduce the risks that healthcare providers cannot control. For example, it is recommended to check blood pressure often, keep a healthy diet to limit the effects of being overweight, limit alcohol and cigarette consumption, and other simple steps to lower the chances of acute illness (National Library of Medicine, n.d.). Then, case management would include providing the identified individuals the resources for reducing the risks of heart disease; a nurse can recommend a specific diet or fitness center for losing weight. Finally, if people at risk already have heart problem symptoms, delegation is better so that an appropriate physician would determine a more rapid intervention.
The described above strategy of care concerns several levels of prevention. First of all, the outreach intervention has the potential to improve the health of the population under the nurse’s health care department: this is primary prevention. Moreover, the survey of the groups at risk might be helpful for reducing costs of care since identifying heart diseases when treating other health problems might prevent further patient readmissions. Next, secondary prevention includes a more specified group of individuals. The described case, it applies to the elderly and obese people who can receive counsel about reducing the risks of heart problems. Finally, tertiary prevention concerns prescribing medications or surgeries for people with acute conditions. Thus, although the proposed prevention does not include the tertiary stage entirely, it addresses the issue of heart disease and provides foundations for subsequent treatment.
Lastly, it is useful to compare the proposed intervention to the one objective within Healthy People 2030 for heart disease. The organization has identified a goal of improving the cardiovascular health of the population to prevent strokes and other heart problems. The recommended interventions are “to lower blood pressure, blood cholesterol, blood sugar, and body mass index” (Healthy People 2030, n.d., para. 5). The strategy that was mentioned earlier in the paper provides similar guidelines for prevention. Moreover, counseling the individuals at risk about the issue can bring awareness of the problem as well as notify people about the resources and methods to enhance their health. Hence, these interventions increase the public responsibility for lowering the risks and help to meet Healthy People 2030’s objective.
References
American Heart Association. (n.d.). Types of heart medications. Www.Heart.Org. Web.
Demarco, R. F., & Healey-Walsh, J. (2019). Community and public health nursing: Evidence for practice (3rd ed.). LWW.
Healthy People 2030. (n.d.). Improve cardiovascular health in adults. Health.Gov. Web.
National Library of Medicine. (n.d.). How to prevent heart disease. Web.
NIH. (2021). Heart surgery. Web.
Nowbar, A. N., Gitto, M., Howard, J. P., Francis, D. P., & Al-Lamee, R. (2019). Mortality from ischemic heart disease. Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes, 12(6). Web.