Upstreaming palliative care for patients with heart failure.

Upstreaming palliative care, practicing and advocating for palliative care earlier in the heart failure (HF) trajectory, is an idea whose time has come. In this article, we explore the meaning of palliative care for HF and then discuss its relationships with both chronic care and end-of-life care. A case study is used to envision the practical implementation of palliative care into existing systems of care.

Comparison of prevalence of symptoms of depression, anxiety, and hostility in elderly patients with heart failure, myocardial infarction, and a coronary artery bypass graft.

Objective: This study sought to compare the prevalence of anxiety, depression, and hostility among 3 clinically diverse elderly cardiac patient cohorts and a reference group of healthy elders.

Methods: This was a multicenter, comparative study. A total of 1167 individuals participated: 260 healthy elders, and 907 elderly cardiac patients who were at least 3 months past a hospitalization (478 heart-failure patients, 298 postmyocardial infarction patients, and 131 postcoronary artery bypass graft patients).

Managing beyond an uncertain illness trajectory: palliative care in advanced heart failure.

A lack of comprehensive and effective palliative care is clearly evident in a number of studies describing the end of life for patients with advanced heart failure. These patients have been portrayed as experiencing a wide array of poorly managed symptoms. The primary rationale for the lack of care has been the uncertain illness trajectory that characterizes living with advanced heart failure.

A comparison of health-related quality of life between older adults with heart failure and healthy older adults.

Background: Health-related quality of life (HRQOL) in older adults with heart failure may be affected by a variety of variables including aging. It is important to determine the unique impact of heart failure to more effectively improve HRQOL in this population.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to compare HRQOL and physical, psychologic, clinical, and sociodemographic status in older adults with and without heart failure.

Impact of symptom prevalence and symptom burden on quality of life in patients with heart failure.

Background: Heart failure is an escalating health problem around the world. Despite significant scientific advances, heart failure patients experience multiple physical and psychological symptoms that can impact the quality of life.

Aims: To determine the (1) symptom prevalence, severity, distress and symptom burden in patients with heart failure; (2) impact of age and gender on symptom prevalence, severity, distress and symptom burden; and (3) impact of symptom prevalence and symptom burden on health-related quality of life (HRQOL) in patients with heart failure.

Patients with heart failure who die in hospice.

Background: Patients with end-stage heart failure experience disability, dyspnea, pain, and suffering at the end of life despite progress in treatment approaches. Little is known about the patients with heart failure in hospice and the impact of hospice care on health-related outcomes.

Methods And Results: The purposes of this retrospective, descriptive chart review were to (1) describe the characteristics of patients who receive hospice care, (2) identify symptoms most commonly reported by patients with heart failure in hospice during the last 7 days of life, and (3) identify interventions used by hospice nurses to manage the symptoms.

Faculty role transition from a community college to a research-intensive university.

Transitions between academic settings require new faculty members to develop expertise consistent with the institutions' specific missions. Even those faculty members considered experts in their field must adapt to the challenges of new work settings. In nursing education, mentoring has been shown to address many of those challenges.

Qualitative analysis of living with heart failure.

Background: The incidence of heart failure has been described as epidemic in proportion. Although literature abounds surrounding issues of epidemiology, pathophysiology, and treatment issues for those with heart failure, little is known about the day-to-day experiences of adults living with this chronic illness.

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to describe and analyze the experience of adults who are living with heart failure.