Compared to younger people, older people and those with frailty are more likely to die from acute infections, such as COVID-19, and less likely to survive intensive care. Advance care planning conversations rarely took place with older or frail people before the pandemic, but have now become prominent in the media amidst concerns about denial […]
Advance care planning is shown to significantly improve quality of life for patients with heart failure
Advance care planning significantly improves quality of life for patients with heart failure, concludes the first systematic evaluation of published evidence on this topic, led by Dr Markus Schichtel at the Primary Care Unit, University of Cambridge. The review shows that patients with heart failure who have had the opportunity to take part in advance […]
How to help doctors discuss treatment options with heart failure patients
Doctors and other clinicians looking after patients with heart failure may avoid ‘Advance Care Planning’ conversations with the patient because they seem like an admission of failure, according to a new review of research looking at how these conversations are helped or hindered. Some clinicians feared that such conversations would ‘destroy hope’. Cardiologists in particular […]