MHP Family Nurse Practitioner Jen Scott Offers Experience in Cardiac Diagnosis

Mahaska Health Partnership

Mahaska Health Partnership

MAHASKA COUNTY – Do you experience pain in your legs while exercising that doesn’t go away? Peripheral Artery Disease (PAD) may be the cause. Mahaska Health Partnership Family Nurse Practitioner Jen Scott has experience treating cardiac and vascular issues such as PAD.

“Leg pain is commonly dismissed as a normal sign of aging but that’s not always the case,” Jen Scott, ARNP-C stressed. “For an accurate diagnosis, consider the source of your pain. PAD causes discomfort in the muscle, not in the joint.”

Scott said people with PAD have increased risk for heart attack and stroke. “PAD causes a narrowing of the arteries to the legs, stomach, arms and head. The most common symptoms are pain or tiredness in the leg or hip muscles during physical exertion such as exercising, walking or climbing stairs.

“This is caused by plaque buildup in the arteries,” Scott continued. “The plaque formations can grow large enough to significantly reduce the blood’s flow. When a plaque formation becomes brittle or inflamed, it may rupture, triggering a blood clot to form.”

According to the American Heart Association, untreated PAD can lead to painful symptoms or loss of a leg. Patients often have an increased risk of coronary artery disease, stroke and heart attack. Symptoms of PAD include leg pain that does not go away when you stop exercising; foot or toe wounds that won’t heal or heal slowly; gangrene or a marked decrease in the temperature of your lower leg or foot, particularly compared to your other leg or the rest your body.

“Certain risk factors for PAD cannot be controlled such as aging, family history and cardiovascular disease,” Scott said. “However, smoking; controlling your weight; and properly managing diabetes, blood pressure and cholesterol are all things a person can do to help lower their risk.”

Scott worked in cardiothoracic surgery and vascular medicine at the Iowa Heart Center before transitioning to Family Practice in 2013. Prior to completing her Nurse Practitioner education, Scott worked as an RN at the Iowa Heart Centerin Des Moines. “I worked in vascular surgery but when I graduated, they only had a nurse practitioner opening in cardiothoracic surgery; so I’m well versed in the ‘plumbing and the engine’ of the heart,” Scott quipped.

“I loved my work at the Iowa Heart Center but it’s nice to apply what I learned on the emergency side to the day-to-day care of my patients in a family practice setting,” Scott said.

Scott is now accepting new patients on the MHP campus in Oskaloosa. She treats patients of all ages from birth to end-of-life and has a special interest in children and people dealing with cardiac issues. For an appointment, call 641.672.3360.

Mahaska Health Partnership, located in Oskaloosa, is a non-profit health system accredited by the Joint Commission. It is guided by its mission to provide exceptional customer service and health improvement, linking the science of medicine with the humanity of compassionate care. For more information about how Mahaska Health Partnership is making healthcare personal, call 641.672.3240 or look us up on the web: mahaskahealth.org.

Posted by on May 11 2015. Filed under Lifestyle, News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.

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