Clinical Recommendations for Patients with Coronary Heart Disease Traveling to Altitude

Newly expanding infrastructure including roads, railroads and airways has made high altitude travel possible and readily accessible for all individuals with varying levels of health and fitness (Mieske, Flaherty, & O'Brien, 2010). The environmental changes that occur at altitude cause stress to the cardiovascular system and pose great concern for the health of individuals with coronary heart disease. Comprehensive research and literature discuss the affects that altitude has on the body and the ways in which one compensates to acute altitude exposure. Practitioners are able to use this information to educate patients on ways to prevent common altitude related illnesses such as high altitude pulmonary edema, cerebral edema, and acute mountain sickness. However, information within the clinical setting on ways to educate patients with coronary heart disease (CHD) on safe travel to altitude is unavailable. This project addresses this gap in clinical education by providing practitioners with comprehensive clinical recommendations for the safe travel to altitude for patients with coronary heart disease. For this project, I created clinical recommendations about safe travel to elevation for patients with CHD that were incorporated within a manuscript. This manuscript was submitted for publication to the Journal of American Academy of Nurse Practitioners and provides information for practitioners on ways to educate their patients with CHD on how to safely travel to altitude.