Cardiac Issues

Course overview

Cardiac Issues in the Elderly OBJECTIVES At the completion of this tutorial students will be able to: 1.Describe the functions of the heart. 2.State the relationship between the heart and the lungs. 3.Explain the importance of oxygenation of the heart muscle. 4.Discuss 3 signs and symptoms associated with cardiac disease. 5.Describe the blood vessel with plaque. 6.Discuss the causes of cardiac disease. 7.Describe the immediate steps taken for complaints of chest pain or pressure. 8.Describe the effect of Nitroglycerin on the vessels of the heart. DEFINITIONS: 1.Dysrhythmia means a heartbeat that is not regular. This may be made up of multiple extra beats, skipped beats, or abnormal beats within the normal ones. 2.Edema is the swelling of the cells and tissue with too much fluid. There are many causes of edema, but edema of the lower legs is generally caused by a person with cardiac problems letting their legs hang down instead of putting them up on a footstool. 3.Electrocardiograph (ECG or EKG) means a tracing of the electrical pattern of the heart muscle. 4.Heart: a muscular organ that acts as a pump. It takes oxygenated blood from the lungs and pumps it throughout the body. It then brings blood low in oxygen back into the heart to be pumped into the lungs to be re-oxygenated. The heart is located in the chest cavity between the right and left lower lungs with most of the heart located on the left side of the chest. 5.Heart attack: a heart attack is the same as an M.I. 6.Ischemia means a lack of oxygen to a body part. When there is a lack of oxygen to the heart muscle, it can cause a heart attack. 7.Lungs: the organs of the body located in the chest cavity with two lobes on the left side and three lobes on the right side. The lungs take blood low in oxygen from the heart, oxygenate it through respirations, and return it to the heart to be pumped through the rest of the body. 8.Mediastinal space is the middle portion of the chest cavity located behind the sternum. 9.M. I. stands for myocardial infarct. This is the blockage of a blood vessel in the heart. This blocks oxygen from a small part of the heart muscle resulting in the death of that part of the muscle or heart attack. Most people can live with a small portion of their heart muscle dead or non-functioning. They cannot live with a large portion of their heart damaged. 10.Sternum: The long, flat bone prominent in the middle of the chest wall, which is connected to the ribs and protects the heart. THE CARDIAC CONDUCTION SYSTEM The heart muscle differs from skeletal muscle in its ability to generate and rapidly conduct its own electrical impulses. This unique property allows the heart to continue beating independent of the nervous system. Each cardiac contraction is started by an electrical impulse that originates from the top of the heart and goes through the heart in a wave-like pattern to the bottom ventricles so that the heart beats from the top atria to the bottom ventricles. The blood comes into the atrium already oxygenated from the lungs and is pumped from the ventricles with a high-pressure throughout the body. Each contraction of the heart is called a pulse. This pumping action of the heart requires it to alternate between contraction and relaxation. Because of the close connection between the heart and the lungs it is important to recognize that when one is damaged, the other will try to function more efficiently to make up for the damage. When we care for a client with cardiac disease we will frequently see a person who has trouble breathing. When we see a client who has lung disease we frequently see a person who also has cardiac involvement or cardiac disease. Many times our clients will be both cardiac clients and pulmonary clients. These clients are said to have cardio pulmonary involvement. Because of this, this tutorial will address both the cardiac and cardi