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. We also identify symptoms common to patients with HF and management beyond evidence-based HF care. Prognostic models and tools to identify patients appropriately evaluated by HF specialty experts might help clinicians understand the patient's status. Rather than trying to identify a point at which palliative care should be included in care for a patient with HF, we suggest that identifying specific needs of the patient and family is a better way to target palliative care interventions. We review available publications that have explored integration of palliative care into HF care, and propose an outpatient clinic model to assess needs and symptoms and direct HF specialist or palliative care on the basis of this assessment.