Implementation of an interprofessional communication and collaboration intervention to improve care capacity for heart failure management in long-term care.

Heart failure affects up to 20% of nursing home residents and is associated with high morbidity, mortality, and transfers to acute care. A major barrier to heart failure management in nursing home settings is limited interprofessional communication. Guideline-based heart failure management programs in nursing homes can reduce hospitalisation rates, though sustainability is limited when interprofessional communication is not addressed.

Measurement of the caregiving experience in caregivers of persons living with heart failure: a review of current instruments.

Background: Current evidence suggests that caring for someone with heart failure (HF) often imposes physical and emotional demands on primary caregivers that may lead to emotional distress or impaired quality of life. The purpose of this literature review was to provide a comprehensive description of the measurement tools used for assessing the subjective experience of primary caregivers for persons living with HF.

Methods: CINHAL, MEDLINE, EMBASE, PsychINFO, the Cochrane Collaboration, and PubMed databases (1985 to June 2006) were searched for studies that directly measured the caregiving experience.