Palliative care for advanced heart failure aims to integrate treatment advances and comfort measures concurrently in a seamless continuum for patients with late-stage disease.
This review highlights the importance of integrating palliative care and comfort measures concurrently with standard treatment for patients with advanced heart failure.
This paper provides an evidence-based review of the principles underlying palliative care for heart failure (HF), including its pathogenesis, staging, assessment, prognosis, and treatment. Approaches to advanced care planning, symptom management, hospice eligibility, home inotropic infusions, device management and improving the continuum of care in HF are discussed. The reader will be able to recognize advanced HF, use important elements of physical assessment, utilize Web-based prognostic and risk-stratification models, facilitate advance care planning, ensure optimal treatment, manage common symptoms and comorbid conditions, determine hospice eligibility, and consider issues related to withholding or withdrawal of inotropic infusions and devices used in HF refractory to standard treatment. The ultimate goal of palliative care for heart failure is to integrate knowledge of treatment advances and comfort measures and to provide them concurrently in a seamless continuum to patients with late-stage disease.
Brad Stuart (Thu,) conducted a review in Advanced Heart Failure. Palliative care was evaluated. Palliative care for advanced heart failure aims to integrate treatment advances and comfort measures concurrently in a seamless continuum for patients with late-stage disease.