How nurse practitioners can improve heart failure outcomes

Nurse Watch is compiled in conjunction with the AHA’s American Organization of Nurse Executives (AONE) and highlights articles of interest to nurse leaders, nursing professionals and other health care leaders. For more about AONE, visit aone.org.

Nurse revives lifeless man at volleyball game

School district nurse Kelly Fogelman saved the life of an elderly man who collapsed during his granddaughter’s volleyball game in Marion, Ark., last month, WREG.com reports. Fogelman was watching the game from the bleachers when she was summoned to help the man, whose heart had stopped beating. Seconds after talking with Fogelman, he collapsed without a pulse — dead, the publication said. Fogelman administered CPR while another nurse grabbed the automatic defibrillator, and they revived the man. 

"I don`t believe I was a hero. I think anybody could have done what I did," Fogelman said.

Study: Nurse practitioner support for heart failure patients improves outcomes

When nurse practitioners follow up with heart failure patients within 30 days after their discharge from the hospital, mortality and readmission rates improve, HealthLeaders reports. According to research conducted by the University of Virginia Health System’s Hospital-to-Home program, participants had a 41 percent lower mortality rate than non-participants and a 24 percent reduction in the number of days they were readmitted to the hospital. These outcomes occurred even though the participants were sicker than non-participants, and the savings from the program were significant: about twice as much as the program’s staffing costs, the publication says. AONE has more.

Nurses need education in genomics, authors say

Nurses must acquire basic knowledge of genetic and genomic concepts to truly meet population health needs, and nursing schools’ curriculum should help address this, say two Vanderbilt University nursing professors in the Journal of Professional Nursing. Personalized treatments based on genetic profiling and direct-to-consumer genetic screenings are increasing, they say. 

“Genetic testing has implications not only for the patient, but also for at-risk family members,” the professors write. “Health care tailored to genetic profiling is a reality today, and it is crucial that nurses receive extensive formal and ongoing continued education on genetics and genomics.”

AONE has more.