Indeed, it is exactly at this point that the multidisciplinary heart failure team has
to put a lot of effort to improve long-term quality of life and prognosis of the patient.
Nurses have a leading role in this
phase. The majority of people with heart failure are managed
in the community by the primary care team and only
a minority are admitted or readmitted to hospital each year.
United Kingdom studies suggest that, in the early 1990s,
0.2% of the population were admitted to hospital with heart
failure each year15. This accounted for more than 5% of all
adult general medical and care-of-the-elderly admissions to
hospital. However, in view of the increasing incidence of heart
failure in the population, the number of hospitalizations in
both men and women is steadily increasing16. Moreover, early
and frequent readmission to hospital is common in heart failure,
particularly with elderly patients. Rates of readmission
range from 27 to 47% within three to six months of initial
discharge17. Hospital admission is often prolonged: in 1990
the mean length of stay for a heart failure admission was 11.4
days in an acute medical ward and 28.5 days in an acute careof-
the-elderly ward