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Author Spotlight: Workflow for Integrating POCUS Data into EHR for Managing Heart Failure Patients
Published on: July 12, 2024
Communication in heart failure and palliative care
1Buehler Center on Aging, Health and Society, Palliative Care Section, Northwestern Feinberg School of Medicine, 750 N. Lake Shore Drive, Ste 601, Chicago, IL, 60611, USA. j-hauser@northwestern.edu.
Abstract:
Communicating difficult information is an essential skill for clinicians of every specialty. The clinical complexity of the heart failure disease process lends itself to important opportunities to determine patient preferences about medical decisions and share information about prognosis. Nevertheless, traditionally most communication between clinicians and patients with heart failure has focused primarily on pathophysiology and treatment options. Studies indicate that patients and families wish to engage with their cardiologists in advance care planning and, when appropriate, end-of-life decision-making. Critical to whole-person care, this review describes several important communication strategies that enhance patient and family support through the inevitable rises and falls of progressive heart failure.
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