Hemodynamic monitoring in heart failure: a nursing perspective

Managing patients who have heart failure is challenging and requires the integration of inpatient and outpatient care. Until evidence from clinical trials of implantable hemodynamic monitors (IHMs) is available and approval from the Food and Drug Administration is received, the best available model seems to be telemonitoring in conjunction with a comprehensive heart failure disease management program. A number of issues, including established processes for data review and interpretation, must be addressed before IHMs are widely adopted and accepted. Nurses, as the most frequent and common contact for patients, have the ability and opportunity to lead this change.