POST-MI
Physical care and behaviour change are extremely important to help rehabilitate your patient post-MI.1
After your patient has a myocardial infarction (MI), there are several options to supplement a drug-based approach to recovery.
Guidelines recommend that post-MI patients adopt the following lifestyle changes:1
- Smoking cessation
- Cardioprotective diet
- Physical activity
- Weight loss (if obese/overweight)
Your post-MI patients may also benefit from attending a cardiac rehabilitation programme, which offers the following in terms of holistic care:2
- Assessment of motivation to change
- Education on goal planning
- Referrals
- Exercise
- Advice on stress management
LIFESTYLE CHANGES CAN REDUCE YOUR PATIENT'S RISK OF HAVING FURTHER CARDIOVASCULAR EVENTS1,3
RECURRENT MI
What is the risk of recurrent MI?
Post-MI patients endure a high and persistent risk of major CV events.4-5
The first year after their first MI is key. Up to 20% of patients who have an MI go on to have a subsequent CV death MI or stroke.
Identifying patients who are at risk for further CV events is therefore important.4
Which patients face an increased risk for further CV events?
While this is not a comprehensive list, there are several risk factors that you can use to help identify patients that may have increased long-term risk of CV death, MI or stroke:5
THANKFULLY, THERE ARE STEPS YOU CAN TAKE TO HELP ADDRESS YOUR PATIENTS' ISCHAEMIC RISK
HELPING YOUR PATIENT
Getting your patients to successfully change their behavior to improve their risk of recurrent MI may be challenging. Often, using motivational interviewing techniques can really help them to see their own behaviour patterns and how to change their mindset.
Try asking your patients some motivational interviewing open-ended questions:7
- “What would be the good things about changing?”
- “How can I help you get past some of the difficulties you are experiencing?”
- “What is the best thing you could imagine that could result from changing?”
Effective behaviour change can be combined with a treatment-based approach to address your post-MI patients’ risk of recurrent MI. You may want to explore what treatment options are suitable for your patients’ continued care. Major international guidelines recommend that post-MI patients at high ischaemic risk who receive further treatments.8-14
Consider that your patients may not be familiar with terms like MI, STEMI or NSTEMI. Explain to your patient that these are all different ways of describing a heart attack.