Advanced Nursing and Congestive Heart

Advanced Nursing and Congestive Heart Failure

The Significance of Congestive Heart Failure in Advanced Nursing

Too many people are suffering from cardiac disorders like congestive heart failure, which is costing the American hospital system enormously on top of the societal damage of loosing so many to congestive heart failure (McCormick, 1999). From an operational perspective, the condition is a nightmare on the hospital system based on costs for treatment, both immediate urgent care and long-term recovery. As such, it is the goal of the advanced nurse practitioner to help alleviate some of the burdens on the healthcare system and create an environment that is much more effective in providing for patient needs on a larger scale, as well as a personal level.

Traditionally, advanced nurse practitioners focused on individual case strategies and analysis as a way to try to focus on broader concepts within the diagnosis of the condition (McCormick, 1999). In this sense, advanced nurse practitioners dealt very personally with patients on a case by case basis. Advanced practice nurses often find themselves working with patients with congestive heart failure during their tenure as a RN and through their studies in advanced nursing. From this clinical knowledge can come more tailored strategies to fit the unique needs of the patients dealing with such a debilitating disorder.

Yet, today, an advanced nurse practitioner stands to play a much larger role in fighting congestive heart failure. Advanced practice nurses can help contribute into the foundation of building care strategies geared towards the many patients suffering with congestive heart issues. Their knowledge can help support more successful inpatient, outpatient, and community patient strategies that are more efficient in reaching care goals, whether they be based on recovery or prevention (McCormick, 1999). Advance practice nurses can help contribute their knowledge to the growing dialogue regarding congestive heart failure, treatment, and successful prevention models. Using both their theoretical and clinical knowledge base, advanced practice nurses can contribute to this discourse on a more meaningful level. More theoretical input from advanced practice nurses aims to help improve overall care strategies, providing for a better quality of life for patients around the country and beyond.

Not only do advanced practice nurses have a huge impact on patients while they are under hospital care, they often have a huge impact in the care strategies after the patient is sent home for recovery. According to McCauley, Bixby, and Naylor (2006), advanced practice nurses coordinate "care collaboratively with the patient's healthcare team while the patient is hospitalized and during the immediate period post-discharge to home, will prevent complications and errors, and improve outcomes while reducing the cost of care" (302). As such, it is clear that the role of the advanced nurse practitioner is incredibly vast and complicated, with the many roles the individuals who embody it must play. Advanced practice nurses are supposed to help facilitate the best strategy of care both during immediate and long-term recovery, while also having the heavier burden of trying to balance the good of the entire facility as well. Advanced practice nurses are often very successful in extending their influence over strategy from within a care facility into a recovery environment, which increases chances of a better recovery of patients dealing with the after effects of the disorder. Thus, the research suggests that advanced practice nurse "intervention was effective in increasing the length of time between hospital discharge and readmission or death, reducing readmissions, and decreasing overall healthcare costs" (McCauley, Bixby, & Naylor, 2006, p 303). With such a huge impact, it is crucial for advanced practice nursing to incorporate an ongoing research inquiry and theoretical dialogue regarding congestive heart failure.