CPD – How to Complete a Cardiovascular Health Check

One of the deadliest diseases for humans is heart disorders, where a range of conditions affect the heart's structure and function. Some of the source problems can be on the heart muscle, blood vessels, and heart rhythm. Most people don’t realise that they are having such issues in their bodies. This is why you need to take a cardiovascular health check as part of your monthly routine.

There are more than 7.6 million people living with heart disease in the UK. It took more than 170,000 lives each year, with an average of 480 deaths each day. Cardiovascular health checks can help you and other people to receive and monitor your heart condition. In doing so, you can find the problem that is going to be an issue for your heart earlier and prevent it before it harms you.

Importance of cardiovascular health check

A cardiovascular health check is an assessment that is done by doctors to evaluate your risk of developing a heart disease. They can analyse it through factors like blood pressure, cholesterol levels, blood sugar, family history, and lifestyle habits. It helps them identify potential issues so you can have personalised advice to manage your heart’s health. 

The main purpose of a cardiovascular health check is to spot the risk factors. Typically, this check-up requires a physical examination, examining your blood pressure, measuring your weight and waist circumference, and taking a blood sample for cholesterol and blood sugar levels. Other than that, the risks can come from smoking or a family history of heart disease. If there are any risks, the doctor will make plans for lifestyle changes, medication adjustments, or further testing if necessary.

How do you check cardiovascular health?

The most common way to do a cardiovascular health check is blood pressure tests, checking your pulse, X-rays, and stress tests. From those tests, they can make a conclusion about your heart condition. However, sometimes it requires you to have additional testing if you have a problem with the organ. Here are some insights about the methods of testing your heart health:

Blood pressure

It is an important measurement that can be taken by your doctor, nurse, or healthcare assistant. Blood pressure tests record two things, which are systolic pressure and diastolic pressure. Often, your blood pressure can change throughout the day due to activities. To prevent this, you usually have to sit quietly for at least five minutes before taking the test.

Echocardiogram

You can do a cardiovascular health check by using ultrasound scans of the heart. It uses high-frequency sound waves to create a picture of your heart. Usually, it is available in hospitals or in an outpatient clinic. The operator will use a probe around your chest to achieve good views of your heart. From this technique, you can find the size, how well your heart muscle is contracting and relaxing, and how well the valves are working.

Electrocardiogram

From this assessment, you can have records of your cardiac electrical activity. The electrocardiogram or ECG can spot what is happening in different areas of the heart. It helps to identify any problems with the rhythm or rate of your heart. Usually, this process can take up to 5 to 10 minutes to perform.

Stress Test

This cardiovascular health check requires you to have an exercise tolerance test. It is similar to an ECG, but this will examine your heart when it works harder. For example, while you are walking on a treadmill, it helps to record how the heart responds to an exercise. 

Magnetic Resonance Imaging

This painless test uses a magnetic field inside a scanning machine. The purpose is to produce images of the heart and blood vessels. The magnetic resonance imaging or MRI method can help you to check problems with the structure of the heart and blood supply. Also, it has the ability to take images of people who have vessels and heart anatomy that are difficult to see.

Course Description

The CPD – How to Complete a Cardiovascular Health Check course can help the participants understand how to check someone’s heart condition. This will determine how they can decide someone’s health state. Moreover, the learners will have the ability to make a precise diagnosis. Therefore, the learning outcomes from this course are:

1. Understanding heart health risks
2. Technique for assessment
3. Identifying risk factors
4. Using screening tools and equipment
5. Interpreting the results

With this, the participants can increase awareness and motivation for people to maintain their and patients' health status. In particular, after learning about how a certain lifestyle will increase the chance of cardiovascular diseases. Keeping the heart's well-being can improve the quality of life with fewer complications related to this illness.

Course Outline

From this training, they will learn about how a cardiovascular health check can help prevent risks from happening. However, it can only be achieved if they use the proper technique for assessment and how they interpret the results. In doing so, the speaker provides information about:

• Introduction to heart well-being
• Anatomy and physiology of heart system
• A key measurement in cardiovascular health check
• Screening tools and techniques
• Identifying the risks

With this knowledge and skills, the participants can be more confident when they are doing a heart assessment. Therefore, to help them achieve better understanding, they are going to engage in activities such as demonstrations, real-life scenarios, and interactive questions. Moreover, the CCM is using experts’ knowledge and experience in this field to ensure the quality of the course.

Admission Requirements

The CPD – How to Complete a Cardiovascular Health Check course is open for anyone who has a background in healthcare, such as nurses, doctors, physiotherapists, and others. For someone without a healthcare background, we encourage you to have basic knowledge of health science or a related field. This is for you to have a solid foundation and get the best of the training.

The most common cardiovascular diseases

One of the reasons why you have to take a cardiovascular health check is because there are many diseases that can attack your heart. Even though it has a 90% chance of survival, this is still dangerous since it is one of the deadliest health conditions. Also, the survival rates vary depending on age, gender, and type of heart attack. Here are some of the most common heart diseases in the UK:

Coronary Artery Disease

Also known as CAD, it is when the coronary arteries, which supply blood to the heart muscle, become narrowed or blocked. It happens because of a buildup of plaque, which can reduce blood flow to the heart and lead to chest pain or heart attack. Usually, this happens with someone who has high blood pressure, high cholesterol, smoking, obesity, and more. 

High Blood Pressure

High blood pressure or hypertension is where the blood force against the walls of the arteries is consistently too high. This illness is also a major risk factor for other diseases, such as stroke. What makes it dangerous is that it often doesn’t have any symptoms. It is the reason why it is called the “silent killer” that requires cardiovascular health check. In some cases, it causes you to have headaches, dizziness, or shortness of breath.

Stroke

The cardiovascular health check is important to know if there is a chance of a stroke. It happens when there is a blood interruption because of a blockage or a rupture of a blood vessel. It can lead to brain damage and can cause permanent disability or even death. When someone catches this condition, they can feel numbness, confusion, and difficulty speaking. The common causes for this to happen are hypertension, diabetes, obesity, and excessive alcohol consumption.

Arrhythmias

This condition is when your heart has irregular heartbeats caused by electrical signals that control the heart’s rhythm. If there is someone with this condition, the heart can beat too fast, too slow, or in irregular patterns. It causes a fluttering sensation, dizziness, and even chest pain.

Learn how to do cardiovascular health checks with CCM

A cardiovascular health check is a comprehensive assessment that only can be done by healthcare professionals to evaluate someone’s risk of heart disease. If you know about your heart condition, you can take proactive steps to maintain your health and reduce the likelihood of severe complications. There are many ways to do this test. Some of them are blood pressure measurements, echocardiograms, electrocardiograms, stress tests, MRIs, and many others.

If you are interested in understanding more about the techniques, the College of Contract Management provides the CPD – How to Complete a Cardiovascular Health Check course. This course highlights the importance of understanding risk factors, mastering diagnostic techniques, and effectively interpreting test results. Moreover, it helps you to have an early detection and make a prevention plan.

The CPD – How to Complete a Cardiovascular Health Check course is currently waiting for the lecturers’ schedule and the materials for the training. While waiting, we encourage you to look at the other courses on our site that are as interesting as this course. If there are any updates, you can find them in the live session. Also, you can always reach the CCM team by email if you have any questions.