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News & Publications
Halton Healthcare Services (HHS) Heart Function Clinic Celebrates Its First Anniversary
By Zita Taksas-Raponi
The Heart Function Clinic (HFC) at Oakville-Trafalgar Memorial Hospital (OTMH), a vital outpatient service for heart failure patients has just celebrated its First Anniversary. The clinic strives to optimize the quality of these patients' lives through ongoing assessments, early interventions and patient/family focused education programs. Operated by two clinicians, under the supervision of five OTMH cardiologists, the clinic has provided specialized care for over 70 patients, since it opened its doors a year ago.
"Heart failure is an abnormality of heart function which causes insufficient blood to be pumped to the body's organs and tissues. It is the most common reason for hospital admission and readmission among adults over 65 years of age," explains Dr. Donald Peat one of HHS' cardiologists. Dr. Peat founded the Heart Function Clinic at OTMH in January of 2000, together with Ellen Ireland, Manager of the Cardiology Department.
Patients are referred to the clinic by their cardiologist and generally attend the clinic on the days their cardiologist is available for consultation. Due to increasing demand in the community, the original clinic hours of 2 to 3 half days per week were quickly increased to 5 half days per week, and are now expected to be further expanded to 5 full days. "We need to grow with the needs of the community, but we will always preserve our original premise, of providing our patients with personalized, high quality care," stresses Dr. Peat.
"Our goal is to improve the quality of life of our patients by stabilizing their condition as much as possible," notes Mrs. Ireland. "We achieve this by monitoring the patient on a regular basis and by ensuring that the prescribed treatment in terms of diet, medication and exercise is followed. The clinic has reduced the number of visits to the emergency room as well as hospital admissions of heart failure patients. It has also shortened the length of stay in hospital for those few who are admitted," explains Dr. Peat.
Nurse Clinicians, Patricia Franklin, and Nancy Dahmer, are dedicated to providing all their patients with individualized, comprehensive care. "There's a huge educational component to the successful treatment of these patients," stressed Mrs. Dahmer. "Patients and their families need to understand heart disease and how it effects the body, and they must learn to recognize the signs of heart failure."
"Patients need to take ownership of their illness. They must understand how diet, exercise and medication can affect their overall health and they need to monitor themselves," notes Mrs.Franklin. The clinic is currently developing some group educational sessions on these topics, to enhance and supplement its existing individual sessions.
"They don't just treat your heart condition. They look at all aspects of your life. I used to feel very isolated by my heart condition. I tired easily, and this prevented me from many social activities," explains Mrs. Eileen Bentham, one of the clinic's first patients.
"Patti and Nancy arranged to get me a walker and I attended educational sessions on energy conservation and nutrition. Now that I know my limits, I save my energy for the important things in life - like being with my family and friends."
The clinic has a multi-disciplinary team of healthcare professionals at its disposal, which plays an important advisory and educational role in the patient's care. While all patients are counseled on their diet and their medication, some patients need additional assistance with certain areas of their lives. A diabetic patient may need a one-on-one consultation with a dietician, while a social worker may intervene to assist a patient in resolving a living situation. " Sometimes, in order to really help the patient, we need to see the bigger picture. With this team approach, we can call on health professionals from any of these disciplines for advice, education and assistance for those patients that need it," explains Mrs. Ireland.
Heart Function Clinic
"We've had tremendous support from our Inpatient Pharmacy Department in the pharmacological management of our patients," notes Dr. Peat. "Our pharmacist, Rachel Boehmer has played a vital role on our team, over the past year, by identifying and resolving medication problems which helped turn several patients' condition around."
"The clinic has become a very important link in our lives. My husband attended the clinic when it first opened and they monitored his condition very closely. Now that he is too sick to attend, we keep in touch with Dr. Peat and the clinicians by phone, almost on a daily basis," explains Mrs. Joyce Rayner. "Thanks to the clinic, I can care for my husband in the comfort of our home. Otherwise he would have to be hospitalized."
The HFC is about to become part of a Canadian Network of Heart Failure Centres. "Our clinic will take part in a multi-centre research data collection project evaluating the most favourable treatment approaches and outcomes for heart failure. We will be able to tap into this national database and share information across the country on the effectiveness of various medications and treatments. The statistical information generated by this powerful learning tool will be invaluable in the treatment of our patients," concludes Dr. Peat. "This is a very exciting step for our clinic."
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