The Hospital del Sur already has a monographic consultation on heart failure, a service that will prevent patients from the region with these ailments from traveling to the Metropolitan Area. It is staffed with two cardiologists and a specialized nurse who emphasizes the importance of therapeutic compliance and adherence to treatment and reminds the patient of the management of liquids and foods that they should and should not take in their diet.
The Heart Failure Unit of the Hospital Nuestra Señora de Candelaria (Hunsc), to which the southern complex is attached, works in a multidisciplinary manner. It is made up of the services of Cardiology, Internal Medicine and Nephrology. This joint work improves patient treatment because care is unified and distributed to users based on their profile. Health professionals schedule a weekly meeting to evaluate each case individually and reach conclusions on the best treatment to follow with each patient. This working method is rare in hospitals, where consultations for this pathology are made up only of the Cardiology or Internal Medicine service, according to reports Health.
Heart failure is a pathology that arises when the heart is unable to fulfill its objective of adequately nourishing all organs and induces fluid retention within the body. Some of the consequences are flooding of the lungs, tiredness, shortness of breath, upset stomach or swelling in the feet.
There are three levels of care for these users in the Heart Failure Unit. In the first place, frequent care is sought for the most unstable or fragile patients; secondly, those patients with clinical syndrome of heart failure, but in stable conditions, are seen regularly in the new consultation or in the existing one; and, finally, patients who have spent more than two years without hospital admissions are considered stable and are treated in the Cardiology outpatient clinic.
During 2021, the Nephrology service was incorporated into the Heart Failure Unit to treat cardiorenal syndrome, which affects the kidneys and the heart. 50% of those affected by heart disease develop kidney problems. For this reason, the implementation of this collaboration improves the treatment of patients, as it is evaluated by different specialists.
Patients in the Heart Failure Unit who require care for their kidney disease are assessed by the nephrologist, who performs a complete medical history, laboratory tests, ultrasound, and subsequent adjustment of treatment.
