Honors Credit: Cardiac Nursing

The emphasis of my honors topic is cardiac nursing. Ever since I was little I have been fascinated with how the heart works and its anatomy. This topic is also very near to my heart because I have many family members and friends that have had severe heart problems.  Additionally, the risk of heart disease and obesity runs prevalently high in both side of my family. Since I was young I vowed to always try and live a lifestyle that would prevent these issues, and if possible, help others do the same.

I have selected the American Heart Association (AHA) logo to represent my honors topic because it affects all people on a health promotional level. This organization is well known for promoting and maintaining a healthy lifestyle for your heart and overall well-being.  They provide information regarding nutrition, exercise, warning sign of strokes and heart attacks, stress management and much more educational tips for the young and the old. One way the AHA helps on a community level is by offering CPR courses that millions of health care providers have used.  Also AHA is one of the leaders in research and many people get involved to raise money for cardiac research and health. I remember in grade school our school participated in Jump Rope for Heart. This is a great program because it teaches children within the community, and schools everywhere, the importance of an active lifestyle in a fun and easy way. This event is not only for kids, but encourages teachers and parent involvement (American Heart Association, 2013).

Finally, there are many family theories that can relate to cardiology and the AHA. One in particular that is relevant is the family stress theory. This this theory explains how families react to stressful events that are either expected (ex. parenthood) or unexpected (ex. Illness/ unemployment).  In this event of an unexpected heart attack, this happens simultaneous while other life issues are going on. It can also put other members of a family at risk for break down (Hockenberry & Wilson, 2011). As nurses it is our role to offer coping and other resources to help families focus on getting through these events.  Nurses could use the AHA information for nutrition and exercise guidelines for changing a lifestyle for the individual and family. Another resource is stress management tips for the coping individual and family member. As we can see, this can also be in combination with family systems theory, where the family is made up of parts and that work together as a whole; what affects one members health will  affect the family’s dynamic (Hockenberry & Wilson, 2011). In the case of a heart attack it can affect everyone so it is important to be an advocate for health promotion and coping. One example that shows family systems theory clearly is if a parent was overweight, chances that their children will be overweight are increased due to similar lifestyles and nutrition. Most parents want to be a healthy and be and positive role model for their children, so by helping them with control their health their actions will also affect the lifestyles of their children.

References

 

American Heart Association. (2013). Retrieved from http://www.heart.org/HEARTORG/.

Hockenberry, M.J., & Wilson, D. (Eds.).  (2011). Wong’s nursing care of infants and children (9^th ed)

 (pp.  48).  St. Louis, MO: Saunders/Elsevier.