School
of Nursing, Midwifery and Physiotherapy
RLO: Heart Failure
Resources
| Title/link | Description |
|---|---|
| British Heart Foundation | The BHF is a UK charity dedicated to raising public awareness of heart disease and what they can do to avoid it, and to carrying out research on cardiac conditions. There's a section aimed at healthcare professionals which has a wealth of resources and publications. |
| NHS Direct Online | Comprehensive NHS-run patient-oriented compendium of conditions and treatments. There's a section on Heart Failure which goes into symptoms, causes, treatment and prevention, and has a list of references for further reading. |
Glossary
- Alveoli: Air sacs of the lungs across which gas exchange takes place.
- Atria: The upper chambers of the heart.
- Cardiac Output: The volume of blood pumped by the heart each minute. It is a product of heart rate and stroke volume.
- Dyspnoea: The subjective experience of difficulty in breathing.
- Interstitial fluid: (Tissue Fluid, Intercellular Fluid): The fluid that bathes the cells of the body.
- Ischaemia: The condition of an inadequate blood supply.
- Ischaemic Heart Disease (Coronary Artery Disease): Disease of the coronary arteries that leads to ischaemia of the myocardium.
- Heart Failure (Cardiac Failure): The condition that exists when the heart is unable to maintain a cardiac output sufficient to meets the body’s metabolic needs.
- Heart rate: The number of times that the heart beats each minute.
- Hypertension: Elevated blood pressure.
- Left Ventricular Failure (Left Sided Heart Failure): Heart failure affecting the left ventricle.
- Myocardial Infarction (Heart Attack): The formation of a thrombus in a coronary artery, which leads to death of part of the myocardium and which may lead to acute heart failure.
- Myocardium: The heart muscle.
- Oedema: An excess of interstitial fluid.
- Pallor: A pale complexion.
- Right Ventricular Failure (Right Sided Heart Failure): Heart failure affecting the left ventricle.
- Pulmonary: Pertaining to the lungs.
- Stroke volume: The volume of blood ejected by the heart at a single contraction.
- Ventricles: The lower chambers of the heart.
© 2008 School of Nursing, Midwifery and Physiotherapy, University of Nottingham
Developer: Rob Cutforth
Content author: Mark Foss
RLO released: 24th October, 2008
Page last updated: 26 May, 2010