Review ArticlePalliative Care for Patients With Advanced Heart Disease
Section snippets
Introduction/ Background
Palliative care (PC), also referred to as supportive care,1 has been defined by the World Health Organization as “… an approach that improves the quality of life (QOL) of patients and their families facing the problem associated with life-threatening illness, through the prevention and relief of suffering by means of early identification and impeccable assessment and treatment of pain and other problems, physical, psychosocial and spiritual.”2 PC emphasizes reduction of suffering and
Methods
The following databases were searched for relevant reports: MEDLINE (1966 to January 2018); Google Scholar, and CINAHL (Cumulative Index of Nursing and Allied Health Literature; 1982 to January 2018). The subject heading “palliative care” was combined with the headings “heart failure,” “cardiac surgery,” “left ventricular assist device,” “transcatheter aortic valve replacement,” “extracorporeal membranous oxygenation,” “valve disease,” “ischemic heart disease,” and “heart transplant.” The
Conclusions
Although patients with advanced cardiac disease may benefit from PC in many contexts, the transition from recommendation to implementation is challenging, and few studies assessing the role and impact of PC in cardiac surgical patients have been published. Existing research is predominantly focused on perioperative advance care planning. The complexities of integrating PC into the routine care of patients with HF suggest that the expansion of this role may be complex. Further research is needed
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