The physical and psychosocial impact of being an unpaid carer for a heart failure patient

By offering case management throughout the unpredictable patient journey the specialist heart failure nurse is pivotal in nurturing relationships with carers and is seen as an essential point of contact. Yet to date evidence of this aspect of the service is not collated formally. There appears to be limited information about the carer profile in heart failure including the activities they undertake and the impact it has on their lives. There is a lack of consensus about the guidance that should be provided to carers to support them in their role. This review examines the published literature relating to the demands on carers of heart failure patients (from 2000 onwards), briefly discusses how the heart failure specialist nurse assists in supporting carers with these demands and outlines recommendations for further work in this area.