Celebrating Two Decades of the American Association of Heart Failure Nurses

Stubbornly, heart disease remains the #1 killer of Americans. This is a key reason for the passion we at Lexicon have for solutions for patients across a spectrum of heart failure issues.  It’s also a reason we are very proud to support the American Association of Heart Failure Nurses (AAHFN). This forward-thinking organization that recently celebrated their 20th year at their annual conference in Orlando in this incredible mission on behalf of patients with heart disease.

Dealing with heart failure has moved well past just education toward preventing heart attacks and strokes – important as that continues to be – but is increasingly about a more comprehensive view of the care. Early identification and intervention in heart failure is critically important, as is cutting edge treatment for heart failure events, and reducing re-admission to hospitals once a heart failure event occurs.

So, what is “Heart Failure Nursing?” Heart failure nursing is the provision of holistic care to patients, and because heart failure (HF) is the most-common final pathway for all cardiovascular diseases, HF nurses will be found anywhere patients with cardiovascular diseases receive treatment, including hospitals, clinics, research, home health, and extended care facilities.

Heart Failure nurses and nurse researchers serve as front line providers responsible for monitoring patients, managing their symptoms, providing education and counseling, developing new approaches to decreasing hospital readmissions, morbidities, and improving the quality of life for individuals with Heart Failure.

Heart failure nursing care can take place in any inpatient or outpatient setting and address the acute or chronic needs of patients and their support systems. Heart Failure prevention can be viewed in relation to individuals, high risk families, the community and the general population. These settings are important, because patients with cardiovascular diseases are at high risk for developing heart failure. Nurses play key roles in managing patients’ risk factors for HF and with improving patient’s quality of care.

The good news is that, nowadays, Heart Failure nurses are everywhere helping the many people impacted by serious cardiovascular diseases - we should all be grateful for the incredibly important role they play in supporting optimal patient care.