Integrating Palliative Care Into Heart Failure Management.

Background: The World Health Organization defines palliative care as an approach that improves the quality of life of patients and their families through the prevention and relief of suffering by assessment and treatment of physical, psychosocial, and spiritual problems. Any patient with chronic debilitating disease, including heart failure, is a candidate for interdisciplinary palliative care to manage their complex physical and psychosocial needs.

Clinical Relevance: The philosophy of palliative care has evolved to include a vision of holistic care extended to all individuals with serious illness and their families or caregivers that should be integrated throughout the continuum of care, including the acute phase.

Navigating Symptom Management in Heart Failure: The Crucial Role of the Critical Care Nurse.

High-acuity, progressive care, and critical care nurses often provide care for patients with heart failure during an exacerbation of acute disease or at the end of life. Identifying and managing heart failure symptoms is complex and requires early recognition and early intervention. Because symptoms of heart failure are not disease specific, patients may not respond to them appropriately, resulting in treatment delays.

The Three Rs for Preventing Heart Failure Readmission: Review, Reassess, and Reeducate.

Despite improvements in heart failure therapies, hospitalization readmission rates remain high. Nationally, increasing attention has been directed toward reducing readmission rates and thus identifying patients with the highest risk for readmission. This article summarizes the evidence related to decreasing readmission for patients with heart failure within 30 days after discharge, focusing on the acute setting.