so this lesson is going to cover the basics of heart failure so we're going to give you the most important things you need to know so what exactly causes heart failure well anything that impacts the heart's ability to pump can potentially cause heart failure so the top two causes are Mis and hypertension click the link below or visit nursing.com nfn for a free enlex ebook covering the 77 Key topics now if you get nothing else about heart failure this is the part you've got to get remember we said that there's de increased profusion forward and increased congestion backwards all right so in right-sided heart failure forward is the lungs so we have decreased profusion to the lungs so we're going to see some oxygenation problems they may struggle with activity because they're just not getting enough blood flow to their lungs and they're not getting enough gas exchange and then backwards we see that congestion into the system they're way overloaded in that systemic Circ ation so what does that mean well a big thing here we got peripheral edema um so how would you feel if you swelled up like crazy right so if you swell up like crazy you're going to be tired you're going to be fatigued you might even gain some weight and then some of this fluid can even collect in the gut that called aites and if you had that you might even be nauseated um and then because the blood can't get past the heart into the body it's also going to back up into the neck so you're going to see this distension of the jugular vein or jvd it's like a rope in their neck y' it's really swollen and uh distended so what about left well they actually have decreased profusion to the body so remember what are our signs of decreased profusion so they're going to be pale uh decreased pulses they might have slow cap refill and their skin might even be cool signs of decreased perfusion and then we see the congestion happening in their lungs that's that congestion backwards from the left side of the heart goes into the lungs so we're going to see pulmonary edema so you see they're going to have a cough their sputum is going to be pink and frothy because of that extra blood flow within the lungs they are going to be extremely short of breath when they're lying flat okay because all that fluid is going to put pressure on their lungs and it's going to make it hard to breathe so if you see these really significant respiratory issues I really want you to think left-sided heart failure um sometimes they might even have weight loss again right sided the classic symptom is this peripheral edema it's the systemic volume overload and on the left side the classic sign is going to be this pulmonary edema and this fluid in the lungs if you need more help breaking down complex topics like this one make sure to head over to nursing.com nfn click the link in the description below or scan the QR code to unlock your free enlex review that covers 77 must know nursing topics make sure that you learn this that we love you guys now go out be your best s today and as always happy nursing