Carolinas Heart Institute and The Sanger Clinic introduced the region's first Heart Failure Program in 1997. Because heart failure is a complex condition, a special team of health care professionals is needed in diagnosing and treating chronic heart failure. The team is dedicated to providing the highest quality of patient care and the most innovative management of heart failure.

Research has shown that patients enrolled in Heart Failure Program have:

• Significantly fewer hospital admissions (as much as a 75 percent reduction among the highest risk patients)
• Shorter hospital stays (up to a 29 percent reduction among patients who had to be readmitted)
• Improved heart function (as much as 46 percent).

The treatment of heart disease can be very complex and is based on the severity of the disease and the patient's associated illness. The program uses a team approach to delivering the most comprehensive heart failure management. A cardiologist specially trained in heart failure/transplant, nurse coordinators, a pharmacist, and a social worker work together to create the most effective and efficient treatment plan for each patient. Every detail of that treatment plan and its results are shared with the patient's primary care physician.

The treatment plan may include:

• Enrollment in the Heart Failure Program
• Drug assistance and education
• Home-care intravenous medication
• Dietary counseling
• Social assistance and refer to community services
• Outpatient infusion treatments

A major focus of the Heart Failure Program is patient and family education. The program encourages patients to be active participants in their health care. Nurses are in frequent contact with patients to assess medication tolerance and compliance, signs and symptoms, and check on daily weights.

Another benefit provided by the Heart Failure Program is access to new drug therapy protocols. Carolinas Medical Center participates and collaborates in nationally and internationally recognized cardiac research studies. This provides the heart failure patients access to the most advanced therapies months, or even years, before they are readily available to the public.

For more information, call 704-355-8816.