When patients are treated for severe acute heart failure (HF) syndromes in a HF clinic, they are either acutely symptomatic and in need of urgent therapies or recovering from an acute decompensation episode and in need of follow-up monitoring and treatments to prevent hospitalization and worsening clinical status. worsening clinical status. Many pharmacologic and nonpharmacologic therapies can be delivered by nurses, especially advanced practice nurses with prescribing privileges. with prescribing privileges. This chapter focuses on two topic areas that affect the nursing care of patients with severe acute HF in a clinic setting. patients with severe acute HF in a clinic setting. First, nurse caregiver expectations should be developed to match a nurse’s education level and licensure. licensure. Second, nursing roles are based on the type and level of services offered and how well services specifically promote quality care and patient safety. patient safety. When nurses are active members in a collaborative team and have the autonomy to make treatment decisions based on consensus guideline evidence and best practices, patients’ conditions can steadily improve, resulting in decreased mortality and morbidity and a good quality-of-life outcome. quality-of-life outcome.
