Heart Failure Clinic
Mission Overview
Naval Medical Center San Diego’s Cardiology Clinic offers a specialty Chronic Heart Failure (CHF) Clinic. Our staff consists of a Cardiologist, Pharmacist, Heart Failure Clinical Nurse Specialist, Clinic Nurse, Cardiac Rehabilitation Nurse, Nutritionist, and Hospital Corpsman. The CHF staff meet with patients every Friday except holidays. The appointment will be in a group session format. Each group will consist of up to six patients and their significant others or caregivers.
If you have been experiencing frequent emergency room visits or admissions to the hospital, talk to your Primary Care Provider or Cardiology physician for a referral.
The mission of the CHF clinic is to provide its patients with the tools necessary to improve their overall health and well-being. Our goals for you are to:
- Verbalize basic understanding of CHF
- Identify signs and symptoms of worsening CHF and know when to get help
- List and describe current medications
- Explain role sodium plays in CHF, how to identify sodium content on a food label, and ways to reduce sodium intake
- Describe importance of daily weights and proper weighting technique
- Describe role exercise plays in improving physical and emotional health
- Describe importance of having an Advanced Directive
Armed with this knowledge, the support NMCSD staff, and your family and friends, CHF will become a diagnosis you define, not one that defines you.