Who cares for the patient with heart failure?
Heart failure is a progressive and often fatal clinical syndrome caused by cardiac dysfunction. Therapeutic advances in both acute and chronic heart failure care have resulted in the ability to partially or completely reverse cardiac dysfunction, with accompanying reductions in attributable morbidity, mortality, and cost. In order to examine who is best suited to provide care for the patient with heart failure, we must recognize that treatment options vary in relationship to the stage of the disorder. Use of a contemporary heart failure classification scheme facilitates stratification of primary and secondary prevention and tertiary care options.
Barnard
Denise D
DD
Advanced Heart Failure Program, University of California, San Diego, 200 West Arbor Drive, Cardiology Division, San Diego, CA 92103-8411, USA. dbarnard@ucsd.edu
D003695:Delivery of Health Care / Q000458:organization & administration*; D006333:Heart Failure / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000473:pathology* / Q000628:therapy*; D006801:Humans; D012307:Risk Factors; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology