Supporting the Management of Patients with Heart Failure within Asia-Pacific, Middle East, and African Countries: A Toolbox for Healthcare Providers

Abstract

Objectives: The management of heart failure (HF) is most effective when established treatment guidelines and recommendations are followed. We aimed to develop a “Toolbox” of resources to facilitate the care of patients with acute HF and chronic HF with reduced ejection fraction delivered by healthcare professionals across Asia-Pacific, the Middle East and Africa (henceforth referred to as the “Region”). Methods: We convened a group of cardiologists from across the Region to develop a set of checklists, algorithms, and other practical resources. These resources are based on our experiences, current evidence, and international guidelines. Results: The HF Toolbox comprises three simplified sets of resources for use in the Emergency Room (ER), hospital and outpatient settings. Resources include admission and discharge checklists, treatment algorithms, recommendations for forming a multidisciplinary team, patient education, and self-management materials, and key performance indicators to monitor whether standards of care are met or maintained, or should be improved. Conclusions: The HF Toolbox provides practical resources to simplify the management of patients with HF and to support the formation of HF programs in the Region. The Toolbox is aligned with current guideline recommendations and can support the management of patients from presentation in the ER, through hospital admission to outpatient care.

Sex‐based differences in referral of heart failure patients to outpatient clinics: a scoping review

“…For instance, although HF management guidelines from the USA, Canadian, Australia, Europe and South Asia all recommend dedicated HF follow‐up within 7–14 days post discharge, they do not specify the setting (i.e. HFC vs. primary care) where follow‐up should take place 3–7 . This likely reflects the fact that HFCs may not readily available or accessible in all regions and countries.…”

“…HFC vs. primary care) where follow-up should take place. [3][4][5][6][7] This likely reflects the fact that HFCs may not readily available or accessible in all regions and countries. We accounted for this through an inclusive search strategy, as well as including patients referred to internists and geriatricians.…”

“…Current international guidelines recommend that patients diagnosed with HF should be referred to an outpatient HF clinic (HFC) within 2 weeks of hospital or Emergency Department (ED) discharge 3–7 . Several studies have demonstrated that cardiologists' HF management is associated with improved guideline adherence, functional status, and composite outcome of death and cardiovascular hospitalization 8,9 .…”

Heart Failure in Lebanon: A Review of the Literature

“…All the eleven studies on HF in Lebanon reported sociodemographic characteristics of the study participants; eight studies reported select clinical and medical characteristics. Excluded papers reported the development of a culturally appropriate intervention in the Lebanese context , a suggestion for an HF toolbox (Kabbani et al, 2019), and an article that discussed electrocardiogram determinants (Khalil et al, 2016) without details on HF. Matta et al's (2016) study reported a single case with limited findings and was thus excluded.…”

Consensus and development of document for management of stabilized acute decompensated heart failure with reduced ejection fraction in India

“…10 The checklists currently available are American College of Cardiology (ACC) consensus, 12 Target HF checklist, 13 Heart Failure Checklist from National Heart, Singapore, 14 All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) HF critical care unit Checklist, 9 ABCD checklist, 9 HF passport (Hriday Card), 9 and HF Toolbox. 15 …”