Atrial fibrillation – what the primary care nurse needs to know

Atrial fibrillation (AF) is a cardiac arrhythmia, specifically a supraventricular tachycardia, where the atria, beat quickly and irregularly causing symptoms such as dizziness, fatigue, palpitations and dyspnoea.¹ However, up to a third of cases maybe asymptomatic and detected incidentally.² A diagnosis of AF is linked to an increase in morbidity, both cardiac such as heart failure and non-cardiac such as stroke.³ However, despite this, population screening for AF is not currently recommended by the UK national screening committee.

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Classification

AF can be classified as paroxysmal (self-terminating within 7 days), persistent (not self-terminating and lasting over 7 days) or permanent (lasting over 1 year during which there is a failure to restore sinus rhythm despite rhythm control strategies).⁴