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Introduction: There is increasing evidence supporting the relationship between family support and patient outcomes. Therefore, involving families in the care of cardiovascular patients is expected to be beneficial for patients. The quality of the encounter with families highly depends on the attitudes of nurses towards the importance of families in patient care. Aim: The aim of this study was to describe the attitudes of nurses towards family involvement in patient care and to investigate the individual contributions of demographic, professional and regional background characteristics. Method: A survey was distributed among cardiovascular nurses attending an international conference in Norway and a national conference in Belgium. Nurses were asked to complete a questionnaire, including the Families’ Importance in Nursing Care – Nurses’ Attitudes scale. The study population consisted of respondents from Belgium (n = 348) and from Scandinavian countries (Norway, Sweden and Denmark; n = 77). Results: In general, nurses viewed the family as important in care. However, attitudes towards actively inviting families to take part in patient care were less positive. Higher educational level and a main practice role in research, education or management were significantly associated with more positive attitudes. Furthermore, the attitudes of respondents living in Scandinavia were more positive as compared to the attitudes of respondents living in Belgium. Conclusion: Education on the importance of families and active family involvement in patient care seems to be necessary in basic, undergraduate education, but also in clinical practice. More research is necessary in order to explore the cultural and regional differences in the attitudes of nurses towards the involvement of families in patient care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose of Review: To summarize the latest research on the risks and consequences of the burden that may be imposed on informal carers of persons living and dying with advanced heart failure., Recent Findings: A systematic search in PubMed over the period 2013-2014 ultimately revealed 24 original articles included in this review. From this research update it can be concluded that the body of knowledge increased with more studies focusing on caregivers of patients with advanced heart failure., Summary: Caregivers are important partners in care and their lives are seriously affected by the condition of advanced heart failure. Studies on the longitudinal effects of the caregiving role on caregiver's quality of life and on caregiver contributions to patient outcomes is still scarce. Focus of current research is moving towards relationship aspects. Dyadic-care typologies and the concept of incongruence within dyads in terms of conflicting perspectives on how to manage the heart failure are new and important concepts presented in studies presented in this review. Heart failure patients and their caregivers still lack sufficient palliative care and communication on prognosis and end-of-life care. More research is needed to determine the optimal time to start palliative interventions to support caregivers of patients with advanced heart failure.

Background: Anemia is a serious and highly prevalent co-morbidity in chronic heart failure (HF) patients. Its influence on health-related quality of life (HR-QoL) has rarely been studied, and no data is available regarding the role it plays in hospitalized HF patients., Methods: Baseline data from the COACH study (Coordinating study evaluating Outcomes of Advising and Counselling in Heart Failure) were used. HR-QoL was assessed by means of generic and disease-specific questionnaires. Analyses were performed using ANOVA and ANCOVA, with covariates of age, gender, eGFR, diabetes, and NYHA class., Results: In total, 1013 hospitalized patients with a mean age of 71 (SD 11) years were included; 70% of these patients had no anemia (n=712), 14% had mild anemia (n=141), and 16% had moderate-to-severe anemia (n=160). Independent associations were found between anemia and physical functioning (p=0.019), anemia and role limitations due to physical functioning (p=0.002), anemia and general health (p=0.024), and anemia and global well-being (p=0.003)., Conclusion: In addition to the burden of HF itself, anemia is an important factor which influences HR-QoL in hospitalized HF patients, and one that is most pronounced in the domain related to physical functioning and general health., (Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Introduction: Following the evidence, the American Heart Association recently published a Science Advisory with the recommendation that patients with Coronary Heart Disease (CHD) should be screened for depressive symptoms and depression. Also the Heart Failure Guidelines recommend routine screening for depressive symptoms. Screening for anxiety was not included in these recommendations, despite findings in literature suggesting that cardiac patients are at risk for high levels of anxiety., Objective: The aim of the current study is to obtain a realistic estimation of the consequences and implications of this advice for clinical practice., Method: Data on anxiety, and depression, need for help, demographics and disease related variables were collected in a cross-sectional study within a 2-month period (July-August 2008) at the cardiac outpatient clinic of the University Medical Center Groningen (The Netherlands)., Patients: Data of 217 patients were analyzed, mean age was 58years (±16) and 62% of the respondents were male., Results: Of 217 patients, 26% indicated to have depressive symptoms and 42% indicated elevated levels of anxiety. About 35-50% of these patients indicated a moderate to high need for help. The prevalence of anxiety and depression was mainly associated with demographic factors and the occurrence of stressful life events., Conclusion: Routine screening will put an increased demand on psychosocial diagnostics and treatment, therefore the availability of professionals should be guaranteed in advance., (Copyright © 2010 European Society of Cardiology. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Background: Remote monitoring of the clinical status of heart failure patients has developed rapidly and is the subject of several trials. Patient satisfaction is an important outcome, as recommended by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to use in clinical research, and should be included in studies concerning remote monitoring. The objective of this review is to describe the current state of the literature on patient satisfaction with noninvasive telemedicine, regarding definition, measurement, and overall level of patient satisfaction with telemedicine., Methods and Results: The Pubmed, Embase, Cochrane, and Cinahl databases were searched using heart failure-, satisfaction-, and telemedicine-related search terms. The literature search identified 193 publications, which were reviewed by 2 independent reviewers. Fourteen articles were included. None of the articles described a clear definition or concept of patient satisfaction with telemedicine. Patient satisfaction with telemedicine was measured with self-developed questionnaires or face-to-face or telephonic interviews. None of the articles used the same questionnaire or telephonic survey to measure patient satisfaction. Only one questionnaire was assessed for validity and reliability. In general, patients seemed to be satisfied or very satisfied with the use of telemedicine., Conclusions: Measurement of patient satisfaction is still underexposed in telemedicine research and the measurement of patient satisfaction with telemedicine underappreciated with poorly constructed questionnaires., (Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Objective: To determine the efficacy of 2 nurse-directed programmes of different intensity for the counselling and follow-up of patients hospitalised for heart failure, compared with standard care by a cardiologist., Design: Multicentre randomised clinical trial (www.trialregister.nl: NCT 98675639)., Method: A total of 1023 patients were randomized after hospitalisation for heart failure to 1 of 3 treatment strategies: standard care provided by a cardiologist, follow-up care from a cardiologist with basic counselling and support by a nurse specialising in heart failure, or follow-up care from a cardiologist with intensive counselling and support by a nurse specialising in heart failure. Primary end points were the time to rehospitalisation due to heart failure or death and the number of days lost to rehospitalisation or death during the 18-month study period. Data were analysed on an intent-to-treat basis., Results: Mean patient age was 71 years, 38% were women, 50% had mild heart failure and 50% had severe heart failure. During the study, 411 patients (40%) were rehospitalised due to heart failure or died from any cause: 42% in the control group, and 41% and 38% in the basic and intensive support groups, respectively (differences not significant). The time to rehospitalisation or death was similar in the 3 groups: hazard ratios for the basic and intensive support groups versus the control group were 0.96 (95% CI: 0.76-1.21; p = 0.73) and 0.93 (95% CI: 0.73-1.17; p = 0.53), respectively. The number of days lost to rehospitalisation or death was 39,960 in the control group; this number was 15% less in the intervention groups, but the difference was not significant. However, there was a trend toward lower mortality in the intervention groups. In all 3 groups, more visits occurred than planned, which may have had a considerable effect on care, notably in the control group., Conclusion: The results of this study indicated that the provision of additional counselling and support by a nurse specialising in heart failure as an adjuvant to intensive follow-up care provided by a cardiologist does not always lead to a reduction in rehospitalisation frequency.