The American Association of Heart Failure Nurses (AAHFN)
2015 Heart Failure Awareness Week

Destination Healthy Heart: A Road Map to Managing Heart Failure

AAHFN is kicking off this year-long campaign beginning with Heart Failure Awareness Week to help you focus your teaching with patients and caregivers. Since heart failure is a complex syndrome, the following tip sheets have been developed for both patients and nurses to help communicate to patients how to live heart healthy and care for themselves.

Visit aahfn.org/mpage/patiented to download and learn more about tips to teach and manage different conditions related to heart failure such as:

Patient Tip Sheets

Nurse Tip Sheets

Future Topics Include:

Pregnancy
Valve Disease
Hypertension (HTN)
Heart Failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF)

You Drive, We’ll Navigate!

Tips for Patients: Self – Care of Heart Failure

Know your Ejection Fraction (EF) - EF is the percentage of blood leaving the heart with each beat
Take your medications every day to reduce symptoms of heart failure and stop or slow down disease progression
Follow a reduced sodium diet (2 – 3 grams per day)
Stay active - aim for 30 minutes, 5 days a week at a comfortable pace
Quit smoking and reduce alcohol intake
Keep immunizations up-to-date
Know the signs and symptoms of heart failure and when to call the office:
- Weigh yourself daily - call if 2 - 3 lb. weight gain in a day or 5 lbs. in a week
- Shortness of breath at rest or when lying down
- Fluid accumulation in legs or abdomen

Tips for Nurses:

Ensure guideline directed medical therapy (GDMT) for heart failure patients
Complete medication reconciliation at all encounters (admission, transfer, discharge)
Arrange follow-up after hospital discharge (within 7 days)
Refer to a heart failure specialist when applicable