Goals for Stroke Prevention (Nursing)

00:00 So here are our goals for stroke prevention.

00:03 If someone has a TIA, we want to address the underlying cause.

00:08 Your patient presented the ER with all these symptoms We've run these tests so we could figure out what's the underlying cause of the TIA.

00:16 For some people, it's an early sign of more trouble to come.

00:19 So if we can treat that cause, we might be able to prevent or at least minimize the effect of a future stroke.

00:25 So it might be caused from a carotid occlusion, artery stenosis, a cardiogenic embolism, an intracranial larger artery atherosclerosis, any one of those things could be a cause.

00:37 Now, here's what I'd like you to do: pause the video, take a look at each one of those items listed under the underlying cause of TIA, look back through the tests that we just talked about, see which tests would identify or rule out one of these diagnoses we have listed there.

00:56 That'll help you make it rock solid in your mind the use of each of these exams.

01:02 Okay. Welcome back.

01:04 I hope you took the opportunity to do that because it will help to really lay that groundwork down in your own brains.

01:09 The next one is lifestyle modification.

01:12 Just like anything else we talk about, healthy diet, increased activity and exercise, and stopping smoking if the patient is, are really important to preventing stroke and heart disease.

01:25 So these are tough ones.

01:26 Don't just brush over these.

01:28 Spend some time talking to your patients and help them identify the next step they can take.

01:34 Someone is not going to go from smoking you know, two packs of cigarettes a day, to not smoking at all.

01:40 So work with your patient, be patient with them, use the concepts of motivational interviewing, and help them just to identify the next step toward better health in those areas.

01:52 We've also got medications that will likely be considered because we're going to want to monitor and control blood pressure.

01:57 Absolutely.

01:58 So we'll probably look at some antihypertensives with the healthcare provider.

02:02 Now there's a wide range of antihypertensives that can be effective.

02:07 So it depends on what's going on with a patient, what their lifestyle is like, or the risk factors they have.

02:13 The healthcare provider will work with the patient and with you to help decide what would be the best option for this patient.

02:19 They'll also consider statins.

02:22 These will lower-- These are cholesterol-lowering drugs.

02:25 If we can lower cholesterol, we're going to lower the risk of that atherosclerosis, that stenosis are hardening and narrowing of the arteries.

02:33 And lastly, they're going to think about antiplatelets.

02:36 Remember, platelet's job is to clump together, right? To adhere to and to aggregate, to clump that platelet party.

02:43 And anytime you have a platelet party, you've got a clot, and that clot is a risk to break off and travel through to parts where you don't want it to go.

02:52 In this case, we're talking about in the brain.

02:55 So if we're looking at medication options, we're gonna look at antihypertensives, statins, and antiplatelets.