Valentine Group Health
Dr. Barbara Riegel, DNSc, RN, FAAN
Background:
Dr. Barbara Riegel has been studying heart failure self-care for the past 17 years and is Co-Editor of the Journal of Cardiovascular Nursing.
She is also the Director of the Biobehavioral Research Center, leading a group of interdisciplinary scholars within the school involved in scientific inquiry and professional mentoring in advancing knowledge about the interaction of biological and behavioral factors in the promotion of health. Dr. Riegel is an established nurse scientist studying adults with cardiovascular disease. Her primary research interest is self-care of older adults with heart failure. This interest grew out of her early years as a Clinical Nurse Researcher at Sharp HealthCare in San Diego, California, where she performed some of the seminal work in heart failure disease management.
Since moving across the country 10 years ago to join the faculty at the University of Pennsylvania her work on heart failure self-care has evolved to a focus on understanding the mechanisms for the poor self-care seen in both developed and developing populations worldwide. Cognition and sleep are the factors she is most actively exploring at this time. Her research has influenced public policy and clinical practice widely.
Dr. Riegel has served as a Fulbright scholar in Australia and Italy. She is currently a visiting Professor at Linköping University in Sweden. She is the founding Editor and current co-Editor of the Journal of Cardiovascular Nursing (JCN), one of the top 10 journals in nursing worldwide.
She has received numerous honors for her contributions to the field including the Katherine A. Lembright Award from the American Heart Association, Council on Cardiovascular Nursing and the Barbara J. Lowery Doctoral Student Organization Faculty Award, the University of Pennsylvania.
She has consulted and lectured across the world on the issues faced by older adults with heart failure and written over 200 scholarly articles published in peer-reviewed, interdisciplinary and international journals, edited three books, and written numerous book chapters.
Dr. Riegel is a fellow in the American Heart Association and in the American Academy of Nursing.
Overview:
In people with heart failure, the heart has trouble pumping effectively. Eating salt gives the heart more volume to pump because salt retains water. Eating too much salt (sodium) will cause swelling, trouble breathing and sometimes hospitalization.
3 Key Points:
- Why do I need to avoid salt?
- Where is salt hidden? How to find it.
- Ways to limit salt and still enjoy life.
