Acute heart failure is a major US public health problem, accounting for more than 1 million hospitalizations
each year. As part of the health care team, nurses play an important role in the evaluation
and management of patients presenting to the emergency department with acute decompensated
heart failure. Once acute decompensation is controlled, nurses also play a critical role in preparing
patients for hospital discharge and educating patients and caregivers about strategies to improve
long-term outcomes and prevent future decompensation and rehospitalization. Nurses’ assessment
skills and comprehensive knowledge of acute and chronic heart failure are important to optimize
patient care and improve outcomes from initial emergency department presentation through discharge
and follow-up. This review presents an overview of current heart failure guidelines, with
the goal of providing acute care cardiac nurses with information that will allow them to better
use their knowledge of heart failure to facilitate diagnosis, management, and education of patients
with acute heart failure. Key words: acute heart failure, diagnosis, discharge planning,
hospitalization