Improving outcomes in chronic heart failure : specialist nurse intervention from research to practice, (2^nd Ed.)

Heart failure is a condition that often results in chronic tiredness and shortness of breath. It also requires complex nursing and medical treatment – especially after a hospital admission, which is all too frequent for persons with heart failure. This book describes and discusses the latest research concerning the benefits of having specially trained nurses manage the care of patients with heart failure after they have been discharged from hospital to their own home. Leading nurses and doctors from around the world discuss their experiences with this type of innovative and effective care program. Building upon these experiences, the book also contains a practical guide to developing this type of care program into a fully functional service that provides quality care to those patients admitted to hospital with heart failure.

Contributors.

Foreword.

Preface.

Section 1: Background.

1. Increased Health Care Utilisation and Costs: Heart Failure in the 21st Century.

2. State of the art Treatment of Heart Failure.

3. Specialist Nurse Intervention in Chronic Heart Failure: The Evidence to Date.

Section 2: The Glasgow Experience.

4. Glasgow Heart Failure Liaison Service: A Model for Future Services.

5. Establishing National Heart Failure Service: Can We Afford Not To?.

Section 3: From Theory to Practice.

6. A Blueprint for Identifying and Managing Patients within Heart Failure Service.

7. Assessing the Patient with Heart Failure.

8. Optimising the Day to Day Management of Patients with Chronic Heart Failure.

9. Pharmacological Treatment for Chronic Heart Failure: A Specialist Nurse Perspective.

Section 4: The Future.

10. New Frontiers in Specialist Nurse Management of Heart Failure.

Appendices.

Index.