Cardiovascular system - important things to know

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Hi everyone,

I'm on break at the moment, semester 2 starts in a few weeks time. So I'm trying to get a bit of a head start wiht A&P 2. First subject is cardiovascular system. I was wondering if anyone who has done it could list a few

"important things to know"

Thanks, Zoe

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hypertension: it effects so many organs of the body.

chf-right sided backs up in the periphery, left sided backs up in the lungs (l= left and lungs)

mi-mona=morphine, oxygen, nitro, aspirin

venous vs. arterial ulcers

learn your drugs by class: -olol's,-pril's, etc. -statins for high cholesterol, side effect muscle wasting, nitro x3 five minutes apart if angina isn't better patient dials for ambulance.

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Specializes in Case Mgmt, Anesthesia, ICU, ER, Dialysis.

If you will PM me your e-mail addy, I can send you the notes from my graduate-level A&P/Pathophys class from the CV unit. I tried to upload here, but it's too big and they won't let me upload.

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If you will PM me your e-mail addy, I can send you the notes from my graduate-level A&P/Pathophys class from the CV unit. I tried to upload here, but it's too big and they won't let me upload.

I am interested in this too...I will be PM'ing you!

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Specializes in Case Mgmt, Anesthesia, ICU, ER, Dialysis.

Sent. ;)

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Specializes in Paramedic 15 years, RN now.

Hey, I suggest knowing the names of all four sets of valves and where they lead. And truly understand the circulation of the heart, meaning, the heart muscle gets its blood during diastole, not systole like the rest of the body.

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rats I can't pm yet :-( hmm might have to go posting mad today :)

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I think the conduction system is important too.

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Specializes in med/surg, telemetry, IV therapy, mgmt.

before you go into studying all the different heart diseases, first make sure you review the anatomy and physiology of the heart again and know the normal working of the heart very well because all the heart diseases and conditions stem from what goes wrong with that. if you do not know and understand what is normal to begin with you will be lost when it comes to trying to figure out what the doctor (and you) are trying to accomplish with treatments in trying to get the situation back to any kind of normalcy! i worked on a stepdown unit for many years where we had telemetry and you have to know what is normal first to understand why the abnormal is causing what it is doing--especially when patients want answers or we need to make a decision about what medication to give in an emergency situation. there are two primary processes going on with the heart physiology: muscular and electrical. as stuff goes wrong with each they produce (manifest) specific symptoms that you need to be able to associate with a disease or condition. the same is going on with anatomical flubups that are at the underlying cause of congenital conditions of the heart.

the american heart association has some nice pages that explain the different diseases, but know your anatomy and then pathophysiology first. use the critical thinking flow sheet for nursing students to help you put things together and websites like family practice notebook (http://www.fpnotebook.com/index.htm), emedicine (http://www.emedicine.com/) and the merck manual (http://www.merck.com/mrkshared/mmanual/sections.jsp) to get pathology, diagnostics, and medical treatment that your textbooks may not have.

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Specializes in Case Mgmt, Anesthesia, ICU, ER, Dialysis.

As always, Daytonite, you rock. :) I'm bookmarking these for the incoming CRNA class - many of them (like me) hadn't seen hard-core A&P in 15+ years.

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before you go into studying all the different heart diseases, first make sure you review the anatomy and physiology of the heart again and know the normal working of the heart very well because all the heart diseases and conditions stem from what goes wrong with that. if you do not know and understand what is normal to begin with you will be lost when it comes to trying to figure out what the doctor (and you) are trying to accomplish with treatments in trying to get the situation back to any kind of normalcy! i worked on a stepdown unit for many years where we had telemetry and you have to know what is normal first to understand why the abnormal is causing what it is doing--especially when patients want answers or we need to make a decision about what medication to give in an emergency situation. there are two primary processes going on with the heart physiology: muscular and electrical. as stuff goes wrong with each they produce (manifest) specific symptoms that you need to be able to associate with a disease or condition. the same is going on with anatomical flubups that are at the underlying cause of congenital conditions of the heart.

the american heart association has some nice pages that explain the different diseases, but know your anatomy and then pathophysiology first. use the critical thinking flow sheet for nursing students to help you put things together and websites like family practice notebook (http://www.fpnotebook.com/index.htm), emedicine (http://www.emedicine.com/) and the merck manual (http://www.merck.com/mrkshared/mmanual/sections.jsp) to get pathology, diagnostics, and medical treatment that your textbooks may not have.

thankyou thankyou thankyou, zoe:-)

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Specializes in LTC.
I am interested in this too...I will be PM'ing you!

can i pm you also?

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