Design, Creation, and 13-Month Performance of a Novel, Web-Based Activity for Education in Primary Cardiology Palliative Care.

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) clinicians who care for seriously ill patients frequently report that they do not feel confident nor adequately prepared to manage patients' palliative care (PC) needs. With the goal, therefore, of increasing PC knowledge and skills amongst interprofessional clinicians providing CVD care, the ACC's PC Workgroup designed, developed, and implemented a comprehensive PC online educational activity. This paper describes the process and 13-month performance of this free, online activity for clinicians across disciplines and levels of training, "Palliative Care for the Cardiovascular Clinician" (PCCVC).

Intersection of Palliative Care and Hospice Use Among Patients With Advanced Lung Cancer.

Hospice and palliative care (PC) are important components of lung cancer care and independently provide benefits to patients and their families. To better understand the relationship between hospice and PC and factors that influence this relationship. A retrospective cohort study of patients diagnosed with advanced lung cancer (stage IIIB/IV) within the U.

Frequency and Predictors of Falls Among Adults With Heart Failure: A Prospective Study.

Objective: Adults with heart failure (HF) may be at high risk for falling due to age, comorbidities and frailty; however, few studies have examined falls in HF. The purpose of this study was to quantify the frequency and predictors of falls over 1 year among adults with HF.

Methods: We conducted a prospective study of adults with New York Heart Association (NYHA) functional class I-IV HF.

Preventing and Managing Falls in Adults With Cardiovascular Disease: A Scientific Statement From the American Heart Association.

Falls and fear of falling are a major health issue and associated with high injury rates, high medical care costs, and significant negative impact on quality of life. Adults with cardiovascular disease are at high risk of falling. However, the prevalence and specific risks for falls among adults with cardiovascular disease are not well understood, and falls are likely underestimated in clinical practice.

Telecommunication for Advance Care Planning in Heart Failure.

Heart failure is a chronic illness that carries a significant burden for patients, caregivers and health systems alike. The integration of palliative care and telehealth is a growing area of interest in heart failure management to help alleviate these burdens. This review focuses on the incorporation of advance care planning for complex decision-making in heart failure in the setting of increasing virtual care and telehealth.

Palliative Care for People Living With Heart Disease-Does Sex Make a Difference?

The distribution of individual heart disease differs among women and men and, parallel to this, among particular age groups. Women are usually affected by cardiovascular disease at an older age than men, and as the prevalence of comorbidities (like diabetes or chronic pain syndromes) grows with age, women suffer from a higher number of symptoms (such as pain and breathlessness) than men. Women live longer, and after a husband or partner's death, they suffer from a stronger sense of loneliness, are more dependent on institutionalized care and have more unaddressed needs than men.

A Modern Integration of Palliative Care Into the Management of Heart Failure.

Heart failure (HF), a clinical syndrome with a variable trajectory has become more common. As people with HF experience functional decline during periods of deterioration in their HF status, or with aging, their needs for palliative care increase. In this review we consider the palliative aspects of evidence-based HF care, which benefit patients while also addressing the underlying etiology of the HF.

Scarce-Resource Allocation and Patient Triage During the COVID-19 Pandemic: JACC Review Topic of the Week.

The COVID-19 pandemic and its sequelae have created scenarios of scarce medical resources, leading to the prospect that health care systems have faced or will face difficult decisions about triage, allocation, and reallocation. These decisions should be guided by ethical principles and values, should not be made before crisis standards have been declared by authorities, and, in most cases, will not be made by bedside clinicians. Do not attempt resuscitation and withholding and withdrawing decisions should be made according to standard determination of medical appropriateness and futility, but there are unique considerations during a pandemic.

Perioperative Neurocognitive Disorder: State of the Preclinical Science.

The purpose of this article is to provide a succinct summary of the different experimental approaches that have been used in preclinical postoperative cognitive dysfunction research, and an overview of the knowledge that has accrued. This is not intended to be a comprehensive review, but rather is intended to highlight how the many different approaches have contributed to our understanding of postoperative cognitive dysfunction, and to identify knowledge gaps to be filled by further research. The authors have organized this report by the level of experimental and systems complexity, starting with molecular and cellular approaches, then moving to intact invertebrates and vertebrate animal models.

Palliative care for people living with heart failure: European Association for Palliative Care Task Force expert position statement.

Contrary to common perception, modern palliative care (PC) is applicable to all people with an incurable disease, not only cancer. PC is appropriate at every stage of disease progression, when PC needs emerge. These needs can be of physical, emotional, social, or spiritual nature.

Deprescribing in Older Adults With Cardiovascular Disease.

Deprescribing, an integral component of a continuum of good prescribing practices, is the process of medication withdrawal or dose reduction to correct or prevent medication-related complications, improve outcomes, and reduce costs. Deprescribing is particularly applicable to the commonly encountered multimorbid older adult with cardiovascular disease and concomitant geriatric conditions such as polypharmacy, frailty, and cognitive dysfunction-a combination rarely addressed in current clinical practice guidelines. Triggers to deprescribe include present or expected adverse drug reactions, unnecessary polypharmacy, and the need to align medications with goals of care when life expectancy is reduced.

Influence of depression and gender on symptom burden among patients with advanced heart failure: Insight from the pain assessment, incidence and nature in heart failure study.

Introduction: Patients with advanced heart failure (HF) experience many burdensome symptoms that increase patient suffering.

Methods: Comparative secondary analysis of 347 patients with advanced HF. Symptom burden was measured with the Memorial Symptom Assessment Scale-HF.

Domain Management Approach to Heart Failure in the Geriatric Patient: Present and Future.

Heart failure (HF) is a quintessential geriatric cardiovascular condition, with more than 50% of hospitalizations occurring in adults age 75 years or older. In older patients, HF is closely linked to processes inherent to aging, which include cellular and structural changes to the myocardium, vasculature, and skeletal muscle. In addition, HF cannot be considered in isolation of physical functioning, or without the social, psychological, and behavioral dimensions of illness.

A Simple Tool to Predict Development of Delirium After Elective Surgery.

Objectives: To identify a quick clinical tool to assess the risk of delirium after elective surgery.

Design: Prospective observational study.

Setting: Preoperative assessment clinic at the Veterans Affairs Portland Health Care System.

End-of-Life Decisions and Palliative Care in Advanced Heart Failure.

Advanced heart failure (HF) therapies are focused on extending life and improving function. In contrast, palliative care is a holistic approach that focuses on symptom alleviation and patients' physical, psychosocial, and spiritual needs. HF clinicians can integrate palliative care strategies by incorporating several important components of planning and decision-making for HF patients.