Heart Failure Awareness Week Staff Spotlight: Rajesh Talpade

It’s Heart Failure Awareness Week, and we’re highlighting staff at Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre who play a vital role in caring for patients who are living with heart failure. Today, we’re sharing some Q&A with Rajesh Talpade, a Congestive Heart Failure Nurse Practitioner Navigator in our Internal Medicine Clinic.

Please describe your role for us.

As the Congestive Heart Failure (CHF) Nurse Practitioner (NP) Navigator, my main role is to engage with heart failure patients within the hospital setting to help them better understand and manage their chronic condition. I also refer patients to our out-patient Congestive Heart Failure Telehomecare monitoring program, to continue with empowering them to better manage their condition from home.

What does it take to be a CHF NP Navigator in the Internal Medicine Clinic?

As a CHF NP Navigator, within the Internal Medicine Clinic, I am involved with a lot of teaching, educating and bringing together all the available resources both in hospital and in the community that will benefit the patient and better manage their heart failure.

What is unique about your role?

The uniqueness of my role would be that I have a “facilitator” role within the hospital to provide patient and family centered care for this patient demographic that I see.

What inspired you to work in the Internal Medicine Clinic and Cardiac Care?

Prior to my role as an NP, I have been an Emergency Department Registered Nurse for 10 years, and have always had an interest in cardiology.

How does your role impact patient care?

My role as the CHF NP Navigator empowers patients to better understand and manage their condition while in hospital. Timely resources provided to patients while in hospital has the potential to reduce their length of stay and have better patient outcomes.

On the concept of practice what you preach, do you have any personal tips on how to stay heart healthy?

I watch what I eat and exercise daily.

Any final thoughts?

I hope to expand the NP Navigator role further within the hospital setting, in the near future as we work towards expanding our Telehomecare program within the region of Northwestern Ontario.