Unit 15
Heart Attack Symptoms
A myocardial infarction (MI) is the medical term for heart attack. This happens because a blood clot or a piece of fat or plaque becomes stuck in an artery that feeds the heart muscle (coronary artery) stopping the flow of blood to that region of the heart. Notice the signs and symptoms, if a resident is experiencing any of these symptoms immediately report to the nurse, gather a full set of V/S and stay with the resident until someone else takes over.
Heart Failure Symptoms
Congestive Heart Failure or CHF
Encourage the resident living with CHF to take periods of rest between activity. This means walking to the dining room the resident might need to stop half way for a minute to gain strength to continue the rest of the way. Using a salt substitute or just cutting down on sodium is a good idea, propping up their feet in a recliner during rest times can help with the edema (swelling) in the lower legs. In addition, they can experience edema in the lungs as well causing dyspnea (difficulty breathing). For this reason, never lay a CHF patient flat as it can essentially drown them. These patients usually prefer sleeping in a fowler's position or in a recliner. These patients frequently wear compression stockings or need their legs wrapped in ACE bandages to help with the swelling. They are also likely to be placed on fluid restrictions during severe bouts.