Case Study: Congestive Heart Failure

Jessica,

Thank you for choosing congestive heart failure as your topic. In reviewing your slide with management of CHF, you mention monitoring daily weights. Patients so often don’t always gather the rational to why monitoring their daily weights is critical and directly reflects CHF pathophysiology. In further examining CHF management, I came across a journal article, Patient Education in Disease and Symptom Management: Congestive Heart Failure written by Rutledge, Donaldson and Pravikoff (2001). Within the journal article, a chart on page 11-12 highlights: “Comprehensive Congestive Heart Failure Patient Education,” mentioning daily weights, with a teaching tip, providing the value of patient comprehension connection to “increased water weight and congestive heart failure”(2001). Explaining further increases of 3-5 pounds from previous examination by provider indicates attention needed due to underlying pathophysiology of CHF. In addition, to the topic of daily weight tracking, an explanation to how the evidence of weight tracking allows providers to titrating medications appropriately to manage CHF comprehensively by having the accurate daily weight measurement data. The middle section of the chart focuses on what key patient behaviors or actions correspond to the topics in managing CHF. For example, with “daily weight”

I found it valuable to have the patient fill in the chart in with their latest weight measurement taken at discharge because patient compliance is essential with