Heart failure occurs when the heart muscle is weakened and cannot pump enough blood to meet the body’s needs for blood and oxygen. Prairie Lakes Heart Failure Program supports patients with heart failure. Our goal is to help patients and their family members manage heart failure symptoms and improve their quality of life.
"What is Heart Failure?" by Jacklyn Karli, DNP "Heart Failure Q&A" with Jacklyn Karli, DNP
Heart Failure Program Details:
Patients who enroll in the Prairie Lakes Heart Failure Program have access to a team of professionals who want to improve their patient’s quality of life, reduce emergency room visits, and prevent hospital stays. This team includes an interventional cardiologist, a certified nurse practitioner, nurses, dietians, and cardiac rehab therapists. Our team will get to know you and will help you understand your condition. A heart failure management plan will be personalized to you and your needs.
Your plan could include the following:
• Certified nurse practitioner appointments
• Personalized symptom management plan
• Nutrition and diet counseling
• Exercise appointments with cardiac rehab
• Weight and water retention monitoring
• Home care visits
• Remote monitoring
Remote Monitoring:
Patients who qualify for a remote monitoring device see an increase in their quality of life. Remote monitoring gives heart failure patients more time at home and doing the things they love. Heart failure symptoms usually appear only a few days before needing hospitalization. Our nurse practitioner can see in real time if a patient’s status changes and can adjust the treatment if needed. This real time, remote monitoring helps keep patients out of the hospital and at home.
Prairie Lakes Healthcare System was one of the first facilities in South Dakota to implant a miniaturized, wireless monitoring sensor to manage heart failure. The CardioMEMS HF System is the first and only FDA-approved heart failure monitoring device that has been proven to significantly reduce hospital admissions when used by physicians to manage heart failure.
In addition to CardioMEMS, our team is able to monitor patients through implanted devices; such as, a pacemaker or ICD (Implantable Cardioverter Defibrillator). This remote monitoring capability helps our team track the daily fluid status of our heart failure patients with the protection of their device.
Patients who qualify can receive a specialized scale. These scales transmit data remotely along with the patient’s implanted device. Our nurse practitioner can review these results and look for trends that could indicate a change in status or increasing fluid.