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Cardiologists have patients they no longer see because the patient can’t leave home anymore. Or if they come into the office, they can’t get onto the examining table without help. I know; I’ve watched my own heart disease patients become debilitated.
When advanced cardiac patients are no longer benefiting from curative treatments, when symptoms become debilitating, hospice care can manage those symptoms, keep patients out of the ED and ICU, and improve quality of life for them and their family.
Not every hospice provider can offer the enhanced symptom management and increased home services that cardiac patients come to need. The sickest, most time-consuming patients need an interdisciplinary hospice team specially educated in advanced cardiac care. That’s where VITAS Healthcare excels.
Cardiac comfort care
VITAS has developed advanced cardiac care techniques and protocols to ensure patients maintain dignity and comfort in their final months, weeks and days.
Our specialists:
• Monitor patients’ symptoms and clinical status at home
• Communicate with the cardiology team/office to intervene early and stabilize worsening conditions
• Manage edema, dyspnea and other symptoms at home or in an inpatient setting
• Enhance quality of life for the patient: help with ADLs, oxygen dependence and extreme fatigue
• Support the family with education and coping skills
• Deliver oxygen and other medical equipment through the Medicare hospice benefit
Hospice-eligible patients who choose VITAS receive comprehensive treatment aimed at improving quality of life, including emotional and spiritual support from an interdisciplinary team made up of a nurse, chaplain, hospice aide, doctor, social worker, bereavement specialist, and integrated service providers, depending on patient needs. Care occurs wherever the patient calls home, whether in a private home, nursing home, assisted living facility or, if necessary, inpatient unit.
What can your patient expect?
Patients who qualify for VITAS cardiac comfort care may benefit from the following:
• They can expect an average of five in-home visits per week from their cardiac hospice team
• Upon admission to VITAS, a cardiac comfort kit is given to every cardiac patient to address acute exacerbations
• A cardiac weight diary is maintained so our team can monitor the patient’s weight
• Our staff, trained in cardiac monitoring, collaborates with the attending cardiologist and nurse practitioner to titrate cardiac treatments to minimize symptom distress
• Our nurses make proactive calls to cardiac hospice patient every weekend
• VITAS cardiac comfort care eliminates re-hospitalizations
• VITAS Telecare® means round-the-clock patient and family support. On-call nurses have access to patients’ records and the ability to dispatch a member of the team to the home after hours, weekends and holidays, reducing the chance for re-hospitalization
• Shifts of Intensive Comfort Care® nurses in the home are available when routine home care is not enough. One-on-one continuous care reduces acute symptoms and makes the patient more comfortable – at home
• Inpatient care can be arranged when necessary until the patient is stabilized and can return home
Other EOL considerations
Advanced heart failure patients may have to consider having a doctor turn off their heart pump to improve quality of life at the expense of length of life. They need to make clear their preferences about resuscitation, assisted breathing and artificial nutrition/hydration; VITAS can explain these decisions and guide patients and families through the process to document their wishes legally.
If you have a patient who might benefit from cardiac comfort care, or from a skilled discussion of goals of care, I encourage you to partner with VITAS Healthcare. Talk to your VITAS rep about how we can help your patients with advanced heart disease.
