After more than 20 years Patient-centered Education and Research and its primary project PC-HEART have ceased operations.
Thank you to all who provided support and interest over the past two decades.
Patient-Centered Education and Research assets will create a Palliative Care restricted grant at the Heart Failure Research Foundation (Foundation), a program of the Heart Failure Society of America (HFSA). HFSA launched the Foundation to address the significant need for more dollars dedicated to heart failure research. Their mission is to improve the lives of patients by reducing the burden of heart failure.
The Palliative Care Grant will earmark our assets for research that improves the quality of life for persons with advanced heart failure and their families. The special grant will be managed by HFSA’s Research Committee. To learn more, or if you have questions, please contact Natalie Zundel at nzundel@hfsa.org.
The Palliative Care - Heart failure Education And Research Trials (PC-HEART) Collaborative was formed as an outgrowth of the consensus conferences on Palliative and Supportive Care in Advanced Heart Failure. The collaborative is composed of over 60 leading researchers, clinicians and educators in Heart Failure treatment and Palliative Care. While recent advances in medical therapy have improved survival, heart failure is associated with disabling symptoms that interfere with usual activities and severely impact both the patient and family. Over 280,000 individuals die from heart failure in the United States annually. Individuals with advanced heart failure often have frequent hospitalizations and only 11% receive hospice care.
Mission
Palliative-Care Heart Failure Education and Research Trials Collaborative (PC-HEART) unites professionals, patients and families in the care and management of advanced heart failure.
Vision
PC-HEART strives to provide better understanding of and reduce the burden of advanced heart failure. We bring together heart failure and palliative care specialists, primary care physicians, nurses, geriatricians, and hospice providers to identify best practices and strategies for enhancing advanced heart failure care. Endeavors include research, education, enhanced communication and decision-making, and identification of evidence-based treatments to manage symptoms.
Values
PC-HEART:
- supports dignity, thus HF care addresses symptoms, quality of life, communication and support for the patient & family from diagnosis through death
- respects the patient’s and family’s wishes in managing his/her symptoms and the patient’s preferences for care and integrates these into goals of care
- understands the prognosis, frailty and anticipated trajectory of advanced heart failure as well as the uncertainty in heart failure course for each patient
- recognizes the value of the collaborative approach to managing advanced heart failure and involves primary care physicians, cardiology, heart failure and palliative care specialists
- builds knowledge about palliative and supportive care in advanced heart failure through various methods of hypothesis-based collaborative research
- advocates for patient-centered communication among patients, families, and healthcare providers (in accordance with patient preferences and values)
- supports professional and patient education to improve recognition and management of advanced heart failure
- identifies models of care that incorporate palliative care and ease the transition to hospice care and symptom management in accordance with the patient’s and family’s desires