The main support you can expect from both teams within the community Cardiac Specialist Nurse Service includes:
- Ensuring the patient and family have a good understanding of their diagnosis, events leading up to admission, any interventions, and any future planned interventions.
- Reviewing hospital stay and answering queries.
- Reviewing medication and initiate/titrate up/down where appropriate.
- Providing education and supporting self management.
- Educational and psychological support is provided by the team and other health care professionals.
- Introducing/reinforcing risk factor management and exploring any misconceptions.
- Assessing anxiety and depression levels and offering psychological support.
- Measuring blood pressure, pulse, waist and BMI.
- Reviewing signs/symptoms.
- Reviewing future management including blood tests.
- Referring for ECG or other tests if required.
- Examining lifestyle, goal/agenda setting, supporting health behaviour change, offering encouragement to commence an appropriate walking programme tailored to individual patient needs.
- Smoking cessation, healthy balanced diet, and alcohol intake reviewed and if necessary appropriate advice / support given.
Specific to Cardiac Rehabilitation
- Promoting physical activity through structured programmes of exercise which is individualised to the patient’s abilities, by the CR Physiotherapist and supported by the CR physiotherapy assistant and nursing staff.
Contact the team
01383 623623 extension 35296
Specific to heart failure
- Monitor for decompensation of heart failure
- Support patient with end of life care
