Managing Patients With Heart Failure

Adults with chronic heart failure (HF) are living longer. Thus, management of symptom exacerbation related to this chronic illness is paramount to improving quality of life and reducing hospitalizations. This article provides key recommendations for nurse practitioners from the 2013 American College of Cardiology Foundation/American Heart Association guideline for how to effectively manage patients with HF, including a review of the major classes of medications to treat chronic HF. The article concludes with a brief discussion of selected areas of new research.