Utica College Statistics About Heart Diseases or Cardiovascular Diseases Discussion

Please response to both posts in APA Format in 250+ words per post

1A.

Heart disease is the leading cause of death in the United States. Heart disease is an umbrella term for several types of heart conditions. The most common types of heart disease are heart attack and heart failure (Heart Disease, 2020). Sometimes it is “silent” and not found until the person starts to show symptoms. Due to the fact that it is the leading cause of death in the United States, healthcare professionals do everything in their power to educate patients and help them prevent heart disease as best as possible.

Some ways to prevent heart disease are to change lifestyles such as diet, exercise, control blood pressure, cholesterol, and blood sugar levels. Another way to prevent heart disease is to choose healthy habits such as choosing healthy foods and drinks, keeping a healthy weight, exercising, and not smoking (Heart Disease 2020). Healthy foods and drinks include foods high in fiber, low in saturated fats, trans fat, limited salt intake, and limited sugar intake (Heart Disease, 2020). Controlling blood pressure is extremely important because high blood pressure usually doesn’t exhibit any symptoms but do cause internal damage. Taking medications as prescribed is also significant in preventing heart disease because the medication may not perform its intended action if not taken correctly.

Of the top 3 causes of death in the United States, the condition I encounter the most often in my unit, which is Stroke/Telemetry, is heart disease. Heart disease is very common in my unit, the population we usually care for are older adults and the elderly. The patients we encounter are usually noncompliant patients. They do not take their medications as prescribed and they have no interest in changing their lifestyles even after they have been educated on their risk factors and the dangers they may encounter with their noncompliance. It is hard to help someone who does not want to be helped. Sometimes incorporating their family members in their care can help but sometimes the family members don’t understand the extent of their heart conditions and just dismiss the healthcare professionals attempting to educate and support the family.

1B

According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, also known as the CDC, chronic lower respiratory diseases ranked in 4^th in the top 10 of leading causes of death in the United States in 2017 (Heron, 2019). Chronic lower respiratory disease is also known as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease or COPD. “Smoking is the leading cause of COPD” (National Heart, Lung, and Brain Institute, n.d.). Two other ways to get COPD are air pollutions and secondhand smoke. Many patients with COPD still continue to smoke tobacco.

When a patient gets admitted with a COPD exacerbation it is caused by their cigarette smoke. These clients typically explain to the nurse that they have attempted to quit smoking but have a hard time quitting. They also have excuses for quitting and one of the most common phrases are “I had horrible side effects from the medications they prescribed to help me quit.”. It is very difficult to educate a client who has COPD about smoking cessation. They always say it is expensive to quit smoking when they spend hundreds of dollars a year on cartons of cigarettes. “There are many barriers to quitting: withdrawal symptoms, missing the companionship of cigarettes, less control of stress and moods, fear of weight gain, and lack of encouragement from family and friends” (Friberg, 2020, p. 262). The COPD patient typically knows the routine when they get admitted to the hospital: steroids, breathing treatments, antibiotics, and oxygen. Once they feel better, they are discharged with inhalers, steroids, and antibiotics and education on smoking cessation.