Essay Sample on Congenital Heart Defects: Atrioventricular Canal

Introduction

Atrioventricular canal sometimes referred to as atrioventricular canal, may indicate an occurrence of a particular hole at the center position of the heart. This condition majorly results in the cases where the hole is evidenced in between the chambers of the heart, and especially when there is a subsequent complication with the valves which are responsible for the regulation of blood into the heart. It is frequently characterized with instances of down syndromes. In the body of an individual having this disorder, excess blood will be transferred into the lungs, subjecting lungs to extra work of retaining the blood (Mavroudis, 2015). This can eventually lead to the enlargement of heart muscles because the lungs will be straining to help in marinating the process of blood flow active. The primary aim of this study was to evaluate the atrioventricular disorder by effectively understanding its causes, symptoms, diagnosis, prevention, and possible treatment options (Mavroudis, 2015). The knowledge was substantially implemented in many medical homes to help in saving the lives of patients suffering from the defect. Also, by understanding its diagnosis, medical experts and professionals can suggest the best lifestyle behaviors or other recommendations help in preventing the deficiency.

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Pathophysiology

Suppose atrioventricular canal disorder is left untreated or addressed poorly, the resulting problem might be heart failure or high blood pressure in the lungs. The disease occurs before the actual birth of the baby during the development process of the heart. Previous nursing studies have indicated that the real cause of the defect remains anonymous; however, one of its great triggers is the presence of Down syndrome (Pan et al., 2018). Also, it is very critical to note that, the defect may sometimes concentrate only in two of the chambers, whereas in some instances, it may be experienced in all of the four chambers. In both of the cases, there is usually a clear sign of extra blood circulation observed. To diagnose the defect, patient should first study the past medical history of mothers, and perform a physical exam to verify the extent of the condition in the baby. For treatment, surgery may be recommended.

Symptoms of Atrioventricular Canal

Conditions of this particular disorder may conspicuously present a few weeks or months after an individual is born. Some of the symptoms include; fatigue, excess levels of sweating, abnormal heartbeat rates, skin turning its color to blue unconditionally, an also lack appetite. Suppose a patient presents with such signs, he/she should seek medical attention immediately.

Risks and Prevention

Shreds of evidence of rubella illnesses in the period of pregnancy are usually considered to be one of the most considerable dangers of this disease. To prevent the disorder, expectant mothers should normally consider taking antibiotic prophylaxis before the delivery process in the time of membrane rupture. However, since the disease is congenital, there is no specific prevention measure that can be taken against; instead, most patients consider immunization of children to have a vital role to play as one of the primary preventive strategies.

Need For Family/Patient Education

Education is usually meant to portray particular knowledge and skills that a patient or the family may need to facilitate their later decision making process in undertaking some of the preventive strategies. The ability of a patient to perform self-assessment is, in fact, the most significant advantage of patient education (Hargraves et al., 2016). The knowledge will help patients to be aware of the potential symptoms of the disorder, and thus may make earlier reports to the technicians. Patient education is one of the nursing considerations, and it will also help in offering early diagnosis plans.

Nursing Considerations

Other than family/patient education, nurses should listen carefully and ensure that they have the correct information from their patients. This will prevent the chances of making wring diagnostic and treatment suggestions. The atrioventricular canal is directly linked to heart failure, and for this reason, any treatment plan must be accurate and precise to avoid unnecessary loss of lives during surgery (Brown et al., 2019). Additionally, nurses should work so hard to prevent fall in the medical setups. Ways of achieving this may include; having working bells close to every patient or doing frequent checkups for the patients who may be at higher risks of falling due to the heart problems. Because the effects of this disorder are progressive, some patients may be experiencing more pain and severe symptoms than others, and thus the need to prevent their falls.

References

Mavroudis, C. (2015). Atrioventricular Septal Defects (Atrioventricular Canal). In Atlas of Pediatric Cardiac Surgery (pp. 117-129). Springer, London. Retrieved from https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-1-4471-5319-1_9

Pan, X., Hu, X., Zhang, Y., Feng, K., Wang, S., Chen, L., ... & Cai, Y. (2018). Identifying patients with an atrioventricular septal defect in down syndrome populations by using self-normalizing neural networks and feature selection. Genes, 9(4), 208. Retrieved from https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4425/9/4/208

Brown, K. M., Jones, M. B., Moore, L., Meliones, C., Montgomery, J. A., & Ascenzi, J. (2019). Advanced Nursing Practice in Pediatric Cardiac Critical Care. In Critical Heart Disease in Infants and Children (pp. 82-93). Elsevier.

Hargraves, I., LeBlanc, A., Shah, N. D., & Montori, V. M. (2016). Shared decision making: the need for patient-clinician conversation, not just information. Health Affairs, 35(4), 627-629. Retrieved from https://www.healthaffairs.org/doi/abs/10.1377/hlthaff.2015.1354