Zbierajewski-Eischeid, Samantha J. RN, MS; Loeb, Susan J. PhD, RN, Dimensions of Critical Care Nursing, Issue:Volume 28(1), January/February 2009, pp 1-6.
Even with national campaigns to help increase awareness, most people do not realize that heart disease is now the leading cause of death for women. Women experiencing an acute cardiac event often do not recognize the symptoms or are misdiagnosed by healthcare providers because of atypical symptom presentation. This can lead to a significant delay in treatment and a less desirable recovery outcome. To help promote early identification of cardiac risk and cardiac events, this article highlights the range of symptom presentation in women with myocardial infarction and focuses on how advanced clinical nurses can increase nurses' and the public's understanding of this disease in women.
I liked this article, because it is a systematic review that reveals the the importance of stressing the atypical symptoms of female MI patients and that ther is often a delay in treatment due to these symptoms (fatigue, mild heartburn, etc). It also stresses the importance of communicating not only the with the licensed health care professionals, but also nursing students that women admitted to acute care hospitals for non-MI diagnosis must be evaluated for occurence of MIs during the hospital stay.
Summary- Heart disease is the leading cause of death for women in the US, but many women are still unaware of this fact despite significant attempts to heighten awareness. Also, healthcare providers often do not possess sufficient knowledge of differences in symptoms, diagnosis, risk, treatments and outcomes between men and women with heart disease.Advanced clinical nurses are the ideal healthcare providers to address this knowledge gap through educating their nursing colleagues, nursing students, and their female patients, as well as advocating with physicians. Through heart health promotion initiatives, delays in seeking care, misdiagnosis, and less aggressive treatment of women can be effectively addressed. In summary, education is key to reducing the mortality rate for women. Therefore, encouraging patients and providers to take advantage of the numerous educational opportunities provided by campaigns promoting women's awareness of heart disease is essential. Achieving the goal of educating women to recognize symptoms, assess risk, and seek early diagnosis for MI will contribute to improved treatment outcomes, elimination of gender disparities, and reversal of current trends regarding cardiovascular disease-related deaths in women.
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