discussion response

Respond to your colleagues who were assigned different topics than you. Explain a patient scenario in which your colleague’s guidelines might not be appropriate. Then, explain how you would provide care for the patient in the scenario. Finally, explain how you, as an advanced practice nurse, might be able to impact issues related to these screening guidelines

Health screening

   Health screening is important to make sure that if a patient starts to develop a disease process, they will have the best chance of managing it before it becomes fatal or harmful to other body organs. Heart disease screening is critical for women as it is leading cause of death for women in the US (CDC, 2017).  Heart disease encompasses all health disease that affects the heart and blood vessels. Risk factors to consider when completing your review of systems is smoking, hypertension, high cholesterol, diet, exercise and BMI (CDC, 2015). Some Risk factors that are unique to women are Gestational hypertension, preeclampsia, gestational diabetes, polycystic ovary syndrome, and hormonal birth control (ACOG, 2019). Pregnancy can take a toll on women’s circulatory system. Blood pressure, weight, smoking along with current family history should be completed during these yearly GYN and OB visits (Brigham and Women’s Hospital, 2019). Cholesterol should be completed every 4-6 years, unless the patient is at an increased risk and blood glucose should be done every 3 years and evaluated during pregnancy (American Heart Association, 2019).

This monitoring is effective but is all based on the patient coming to appointments and completing the lab work. Patients who are unable to have dependable transportation and are unable to afford the lab work would become a higher risk population. Patients may not always share their history or family history accurately and this is also a concern for proper screening. The main importance of this is to make sure we as providers are following the guideline and asking the tough questions. If we are unsure if a patient was screened properly, we should preform that screening and be prepared to support the patient in management if the heart disease process is discovered. Education is always critical for patients to be compliant and take ownership of their disease process.

References

ACOG, American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. (2019). Women's Health Care Physicians. Retrieved from https://www.acog.org/Patients/FAQs/Heart-Health-for-Women?IsMobileSet=false.

American Heart Association. (2019, March 22). Heart-Health Screenings. Retrieved from https://www.heart.org/en/health-topics/consumer-healthcare/what-is-cardiovascular-disease/heart-health-screenings.

Brigham and Women's Hospital. (2019). Heart Health Screenings and Tests. Retrieved from https://www.brighamandwomens.org/heart-and-vascular-center/programs/pollin-womens-heart-center/heart-health-screening-tests.

CDC Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2017, February 7). Women and Heart Disease Prevention - Women's Health - CDC. Retrieved from https://www.cdc.gov/women/heart/index.htm.

CDC Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2015, August 10). Heart Disease Risk Factors. Retrieved from https://www.cdc.gov/heartdisease/risk_factors.htm