Heart Failure Awareness Week

In honor of Heart Failure Awareness Week, February 14-20, 2016, the American Association of Heart Failure Nurses (AAHFN) is promoting healthier living with heart failure by providing educational materials for nurses, patients and their caregivers.

Main Content

Heart failure (HF), also called congestive heart failure (CHF), occurs when the heart is unable to pump sufficiently to maintain blood flow to meet the human body's needs. Heart failure (HF) is a common condition that develops after the heart becomes damaged or weakened by diseases of the heart including heart attacks and other medical conditions. Heart failure is divided into two different types:

• Heart failure due to reduced ejection fraction (also known as heart failure due to left ventricular systolic dysfunction or systolic heart failure).
• Heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF) also known as diastolic heart failure or heart failure with normal ejection fraction.

Heart Failure Awareness

This year's campaign, Spices of Life! Healthy Living with Heart Failure will kicked-off February 14 and includes tips on keeping the flavor in meals while maintaining a healthy lifestyle. A cookbook filled with recipes to assist patients and caregivers with preparing healthy low sodium meals is available at no cost on the AAHFN website.

Currently there are 6.5 million adults in the U.S. living with heart failure which affects the ability of the heart to pump blood to the body. Spices of Life! Healthy Living with Heart Failure helps patients to take an active part of managing their disease with these self-care tips.

AAHFN is increasing awareness and encouraging communication between patients, caregivers, and their healthcare providers. The AAHFN patient education website provides information and easy to follow tip sheets to help live a more heart healthy lifestyle.

"Patients are at the heart of what we do. AAHFN is committed to promoting and providing nursing and patient education to live healthier lives with heart failure," said AAHFN President, Marilyn Prasun, PhD, CCNS-BC, CHFN, FAHA. "This year we have collaborated with heart failure experts, nutritionists, and patients to create and provide a cookbook dedicated to heart healthy and tasty recipes along with educational materials and information."

In an effort to help maintain a healthy lifestyle while living with heart failure, AAHFN has these and other resources available.

Information Sheets for Patients:

• Vinegar
• Ethnic Flavor
• Facts about Salt
• Low Sodium Seasoning Guide
• How to Read a Nutrition Label

Tips for Nurses:

• Refer to a heart failure specialist.
• Provide education on a low sodium diet.
• Arrange follow-up after hospital discharge (within 7 days).
• Evaluate for guideline directed medical therapy (GDMT) for heart failure patients.
• Provide a complete medication reconciliation at all encounters (admission, transfer, discharge)

Resources:

For additional patient education resources visit: aahfnpatienteducation.com

Go to aahfn.org for detailed information about AAHFN's initiative Spices of Life! Healthy Living with Heart Failure and additional downloads on this program.

Sponsors of AAHFN's Heart Failure Awareness Week include: Amgen Cardiovascular, Medtronic, Novartis, SJM.

Attribution/Source(s): This quality-reviewed publication was selected for publishing by the editors of Disabled World (DW) due to its relevance to the disability community. Originally authored by AAHFN and published on 2016/02/15, this content may have been edited for style, clarity, or brevity.