Studies show, congestive heart failure is one of the most common reasons for hospital admissions among those 65 years old and older.
Branch Director of Peninsula Home Care at Nanticoke, Beverly White tells, us how we can try to put a dent in those numbers.
Beverly says that almost six million Americans are living with congestive heart failure and do not even know it. She tells us about a tool to help patients with this condition – Telehealth.
When a patient with congestive heart failure returns home after receiving physicians care, they need to have a plan and a way to monitor their health.
Home health care helps make the transition from hospital to home as smooth as possible. This requires the patient to understand their plan of care upon discharge and have the support, resources and education they need to not only prevent readmission to the hospital but continue their recovery at home and eventually gain their independence to get back to their lives.
People who struggle with congestive heart failure need to make some changes to their lifestyle such as eating differently, remembering to take their medications, and staying active. Beverly touches on more specific changes that need to be made:
- Keep blood pressure low
- Monitor your symptoms
- Maintain fluid balance
- Limit how much salt -sodium- you eat
- Monitor your weight
- Take your medication as prescribed
- Schedule regular doctor appointments
Telehealth helps the patient when they are back in the comfort of their own home. Telehealth provides patients with high-tech medical monitors and other tools that track health conditions and alert home care nurses of any issues, recurrences or flare ups. The tools do not replace home visits our nurses and therapists make but they are an additional tool to prevent re-admissions to the hospital, keeping people in the comfort of their home during recovery.
The monitors provided to patients track and record critical health information such as blood pressure levels, pulse-rate, and weight and blood oxygen saturation levels. For a CHF patient, a change in weight could signal a red flag to the nurse and support can be provided sooner than later which could save the patient a trip back to the ER.
