Program


Workshop: Care of the patient with congenital heart disease - A primer for all nurses

May 24, 2024 from 9:40am MDT to 10:30am MDT

Congenital heart disease (CHD) was once considered to a problem of the pediatric cohort. However, with advanced pharmaco-surgical interventions, the majority of people living with CHD survive childhood and now there are more adults than children alive with CHD. People living with CHD require life-long care, as they have a four-fold increase in hospitalization rates compared to aged matched peers, based upon complexity of their CHD and associated multi-system pathologies. The increasing prevalence and healthcare utilization require cardiac nurses to understand the basics of CHD to provide care to people living with CHD. The objective of this workshop is to provide an overview of CHD for cardiac nurses and to support the integration of CHD knowledge into patient care. This objective will be met through the provision of a synopsis of CHD, followed by a discussion of the classification and treatment of common CHD defects. Next, the four main considerations for general CHD nursing care, anatomy, rhythm, shunts, and cyanosis/ low oxygen saturation will be discussed. Finally, three case scenarios will be presented, coarctation of the aorta, atrial septal defect with Eisenmenger’s syndrome, and a Fontan circulation. Attendees will interact with presenters to walk through assessments, interpret assessment findings, and link assessment findings to the underlying physiology of the CHD defect. Following this workshop, attendees will better understand CHD and will be able to integrate assessment findings with the underlying CHD defect. This will promote improve patient care and outcomes along with increased comfort and satisfaction among cardiac nurses.

Speakers / Panelists

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    Dawn Barker

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    Emily Phillips
    RN, MN, PhD candidate, CCN(c)