Learning to Live with Heart Failure

Learning to Live with Heart Failure serves as an educational tool for patients with heart failure. This educational manual was developed by a diverse group of clinicians at the University of North Carolina. Contributors to the book include physicians, nurses, and pharmacists who specialize managing patients with heart failure as well as many other support groups including nutrition and food services and physical therapy. The manual contains seven sections addressing the following topics: understanding heart failure (symptoms, types, causes, self monitoring), knowing medications (tips for taking medicines, medicines to avoid, appropriate medicines for systolic and diastolic heart failure, and detailed information on standard heart failure therapies), device therapies (defibrillators and resynchronization therapy), advanced therapies (heart transplantation and ventricular assist devices), shaking the salt habit (reading nutrition labels, eating healthy fast food, recommended foods, and foods to avoid), lifestyle considerations (exercise, sexual activity, managing your mood), and helpful resources. The manual is intended to be used in the inpatient and/or outpatient settings. It is recognized that the manual will take multiple visits/sessions to review and that reviewing various sections multiple times with select patients may be necessary. It must also be emphasized that low literacy patients will need assistance with understanding much of the material.