Primary Palliative Care in Heart Failure: A Pilot Trial

Patients with advanced heart failure (HF) suffer from significant pain, fatigue, difficulty breathing, anxiety, and depression. Palliative Care (PC) is a medical specialty designed to focus on relieving patient suffering by providing an extra layer of support on top of usual care. To date, there has been little research on the impact of PC in HF. We will conduct a randomized clinical trial to assess the feasibility, acceptability, and perceived effectiveness of training cardiology nurses in PC and administering PC to their patients. Patients will be randomized into either the usual care group or the intervention group. Usual care participants will receive their care with no alterations, and intervention participants will receive the PC intervention from their nurse on top of their usual care. Both groups will complete health-related surveys on tablet computers, via email, and/or via telephone. In the intervention group, these answers will be used to tailor the intervention to the specific patient's needs. Caregivers will also be recruited into the study, and will complete surveys similar to the patients via the aforementioned methods.