Heart disease is a condition that involves any issues happening to the heart. The treatment of this illness depends on the type of heart disease. 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. Next, more acute conditions might involve surgery as a treatment. For instance, “the most common type of heart surgery for adults is coronary artery bypass grafting” (National Institutes of Health, 2021, para. 3). Thus, a nurse usually provides not primary care but helps patients recover after the surgery. However, this care might be insufficient; a more thorough public health approach would include prevention-oriented treatment.
As a public nurse, I would approach this condition differently. Namely, I would adhere to the principles of public health nurses, which add necessary actions to the mentioned. Specifically, I would try to make the prevention of the complexities related to heart disease the priority. Next, I would identify people who have not yet suffered from acute forms of heart disease but are at risk. For example, risk groups include elderly and obese people with high ischemic heart disease rates (Nowbar et al., 2019). Hence, I would raise awareness about the danger among this population and give recommendations so that to “reach out 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 for the prevention of heart disease. First, outreach is the most necessary step in this process, which suggests finding the population at risk and the most relevant information about the interventions. After this, case findings should determine the individuals within the healthcare 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. For example, it is recommended to check blood pressure often, keep a healthy diet to limit the effects of being overweight and limit alcohol consumption to lower the chances of acute illness (How to prevent heart disease, n.d.). Then, case management would include providing the identified individuals the resources to reduce the risks; a nurse can recommend a specific diet or fitness center to lose weight. Finally, if people at risk already have symptoms of heart problems, it is better to use delegation.
The described 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 identifying heart diseases in patients when treating other health problems that 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. 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. The organization has identified a goal of improving the cardiovascular health of the population to prevent heart problems. The recommended interventions are “to lower blood pressure, blood cholesterol, blood sugar, and body mass index” (Improve cardiovascular health in adults, n.d., para. 5). The strategy that was mentioned earlier provides similar guidelines for prevention. Moreover, counseling individuals at risk can bring awareness of the problem and notify people about the methods to enhance their health. Hence, these interventions increase the public responsibility for lowering the risks to meet Healthy People 2030’s objective.
References
American Heart Association. (n.d.). Types of heart medications. Web.
Demarco, R. F., & Healey-Walsh, J. (2019). Community and public health nursing: Evidence for practice (3rd ed.). LWW.
How to prevent heart disease. National Library of Medicine. (n.d.). Web.
Improve cardiovascular health in adults. (n.d.). Healthy People 2030. Web.
National Institutes of Health. (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), 1-11. Web.