Overview

This resource room is built on well-proven principles of quality improvement, personal experiences, and evidence-based medicine. A redesign in process, work flow, and information transfer and sharing is needed in order to implement effective team-based heart failure care.

This Resource Room will enable you to implement effective regimens that optimize Heart Failure Management in your institution by providing you with information on:

You will also have access to:

• Education Resources
• Clinical Tools
• QI Slide Sets
• Professional Development
• Exchange Information

Why Should You Act?

• The majority of heart failure (HF) patients are managed by hospitalists.¹
• Heart Failure is the most common diagnosis in hospitalized patients older than 65 and one-third of patients hospitalized for HF are readmitted to the hospital within 3 months^{2, 3}. Despite advances in diagnosis and treatment of HF, over one million patients are hospitalized every year.³
• The quality of care for hospitalized HF patients differs significantly by hospitals and physicians and adherence to evidence-based guidelines is very low. Studies have shown that admissions for HF can be prevented with multidisciplinary disease management strategies^{1, 2, 3}

¹Quality of Care for Patients Hospitalized With Heart Failure
Assessing the Impact of Hospitalists Peter K. Lindenauer, MD, MSc; Rona Chehabeddine, MPH; Penelope Pekow, PhD; Janice Fitzgerald, MS, RN; Evan M. Benjamin, MD Arch Intern Med. 2002;162:1251-1256

²Gwadry-Sridhar FH, Flintoft V, Lee DS, et al. A systematic review and meta-analysis of studies comparing readmission rates and mortality rates in patients with heart failure. Arch Intern Med 2004;164:2315-20.

³ Heart Disease and Stroke Statistics--2006 Update. A Report From the American Heart Association Statistics Committee and Stroke Statistics Subcommittee. Circulation. 2006 Jan 11; [ PubMed]

Fundamental Principle for Heart Failure

Hospitalists can lead their institutions in early diagnosis, initiation of evidence based medical therapy, and incorporation of a multidisciplinary approach to heart failure. Hospitalists can also develop strategies to operationalize cost-effective interventions that reduce morbidity, mortality, readmission rates and length of stay.^{1, 4}

¹Quality of Care for Patients Hospitalized With Heart Failure
Assessing the Impact of Hospitalists Peter K. Lindenauer, MD, MSc; Rona Chehabeddine, MPH; Penelope Pekow, PhD; Janice Fitzgerald, MS, RN; Evan M. Benjamin, MD Arch Intern Med. 2002;162:1251-1256

²Gwadry-Sridhar FH, Flintoft V, Lee DS, et al. A systematic review and meta-analysis of studies comparing readmission rates and mortality rates in patients with heart failure. Arch Intern Med 2004;164:2315-20.

³ Heart Disease and Stroke Statistics--2006 Update. A Report From the American Heart Association Statistics Committee and Stroke Statistics Subcommittee. Circulation. 2006 Jan 11; [ PubMed]

⁴The Role of Hospitalists in the Management of Acute Decompensated Heart Failure.Alpesh N Amin MD, MBA. The American Heart Hospital Journal 2005:3 (2), 111-117