Paper Sample on Advanced Practice Nursing's Vital Role in Cardiovascular Health Promotion

Currently, one in three American adults lives with one or more heart disease (Sacco et al., 2016). Heart disease and stroke lead to decreased quality of life as well as disability. Billions of dollars are spent each year to improve health facilities and buy modern equipment. People have different risk factors according to age, geographical area, race/ethnicity, and social-economic status.

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Advanced practice nursing plays a pivotal role in the promotion of cardiovascular health. Deaths caused by heart diseases reduce significantly as a result of nurses taking leadership roles. Health workers educate people on reducing the risk factors by living a healthy life. Nurses are the ones who advise the patients to adhere to all the treatment guidelines and protocols (Sacco et al., 2016). When heart diseases are managed well, the chances of one getting stroke are reduced. Advanced practice nursing ensures that people have the necessary information they require for the prevention of heart disease.

One of the healthy people 2020 goals is ensuring that heart diseases are controlled. The objective will be met by ensuring that prevention measures are adhered to, and the risk factors are treated. Early detection is also essential. Around $320 billion are spent each year in healthcare expenditures (Mozaffarian et al., 2016). Managing the risk factors can lead to a significant reduction in deaths, which come as a result of cardiovascular disease. Examples of risk factors are high blood pressure and diabetes.

The public health policy can be applied differently in various communities in the United States. This is because people have distinct risk factors according to their geographical regions and lifestyles (Mozaffarian et al., 2016). For example, some people can get cardiovascular disease due to obesity as a result of low physical activities while others do not have the appropriate diet. The preferences of cardiovascular disease vary according to various factors, and this may be an area of interest in my research project.

Literature Review

There are various primary and secondary sources which give detailed information about stroke and heart disease. It is a public health concern due to the increased number of deaths, and that is the reason why it has attracted many researchers. Scientific research is the pillar of medical care and innovations (Mozaffarian et al., 2016). There is a high relation between stroke and heart diseases. People who have some heart conditions have more than twice the risk of getting a stroke (World Health Organization, 2004). Most primary sources show that people who have less physical activity are more likely to get heart diseases and finally get stroke. People are encouraged to engage more in physical activities to avoid overweight and obesity.

According to various case studies relating to heart diseases and stroke, nurses are at the center of managing heart conditions leading to stroke. In one case of a 67-year-old woman, she was admitted in a hospital due to chest pain and she was diagnosed with Ischemic Heart Disease. The woman had risk factors, which made her more likely to develop heart complications. She died less than 24 hours after admission ("Case 6 - Woman with ischemic heart disease admitted due to chest pain and shock," n.d.). The woman was a smoker, and she had hypertension. She also had diabetes mellitus and dyslipidemia. If the conditions could have been treated earlier, then the woman would not have died. The nurses could also have advised her that it was not appropriate for her to be smoking with her conditions.

According to the World Health Organization, cardiovascular diseases are the leading causes of death globally. Around 17.9 million lives are lost each year (World Health Organization, 2004). Blood pressure, glucose level and lipids in the blood can be measured in primary care facilities. People ignore these conditions leading to treating a bigger problem. Nurses that are in the facilities can advise the patients accordingly. Failure to address the risk factors can only result in an increased number of deaths.

Secondary sources give an analysis of the primary sources. The information researched is synthesized, providing appropriate recommendations. Heart diseases and stroke attributes to one in every three deaths in the United States. It is estimated that around $ 137.4 billion is lost each year as a result of a loss of labor due to premature deaths (Ovbiagele et al., 2013). Cardiovascular health is affected by some factors such as political, social, and economic factors. Some people living in certain conditions have high-risk factors than others. The risk factors might also be different according to the geographical regions. One might have obesity as a risk factor due to low physical activities, while others might have hypertension as a risk factor due to stressful conditions (Ovbiagele et al., 2013).

In the past, it was considered that heart diseases and stroke were diseases for the old. The norm has changed, and even young people are now getting the disease. The change in the trend can be attributed to the changing lifestyle and living conditions. Most overweight people are young, below 50 years (Mackay & Mensah, 2004). Depression is also a rising concern which needs to be addressed. Living in stressful conditions makes people more susceptible to heart diseases and mostly cardiovascular diseases (Mackay & Mensah, 2004). Many people have depression, but they do not know. Failure to realize in time that someone is depressed can lead to heart conditions that are hard to be addressed.

Children are supposed to know the benefits of healthy living from a tender age. In schools, they are supposed to take healthy foods and also engage in physical activities. Extra-curricular activities should be increased. For the working class, the work environment should be in good condition, and space provided for some physical activities (Mackay & Mensah, 2004). Affordable and quality healthcare is critical so that early diagnosis can be possible.

References

Case 6 - Woman with ischemic heart disease admitted due to chest pain and shock. (n.d.). PubMed Central (PMC). https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6263468/

Mackay, J., & Mensah, G. A. (2004). The atlas of heart disease and stroke. World Health Organization. https://books.google.co.ke/books?hl=en&lr=&id=JagK-qIWaZoC&oi=fnd&pg

Mozaffarian, D., Benjamin, E. J., Go, A. S., Arnett, D. K., Blaha, M. J., Cushman, M., ... & Howard, V. J. (2016). Heart disease and stroke statistics-2016 update: a report from the American Heart Association. Circulation, 133(4), e38. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26673558/

Ovbiagele, B., Goldstein, L. B., Higashida, R. T., Howard, V. J., Johnston, S. C., Khavjou, O. A., ... & Saver, J. L. (2013). Forecasting the future of stroke in the United States: a policy statement from the American Heart Association and American Stroke Association. Stroke, 44(8), 2361-2375. https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/abs/10.1161/str.0b013e31829734f2

Sacco, R. L., Roth, G. A., Reddy, K. S., Arnett, D. K., Bonita, R., Gaziano, T. A., ... & Murray, C. J. (2016). The heart of 25 by 25: achieving the goal of reducing global and regional premature deaths from cardiovascular diseases and stroke: a modeling study from the American Heart Association and the World Heart Federation. Circulation, 133(23), e674-e690. https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/full/10.1161/CIR.0000000000000395

World Health Organization. (2004). The atlas of heart disease and stroke. https://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/handle/10665/43007/9241562768.pdf