The recommendations listed in this clinical practice guideline are, whenever possible,
evidence-based. An initial extensive evidence review, which included literature derived from …

Heart failure is a serious condition and equivalent to malignant disease in terms of symptom
burden and mortality. At this moment only a comparatively small number of heart failure …

Background Focus group studies are increasingly published in health related journals, but
we know little about how researchers use this method, particularly how they determine the …

Sharon R. Kaufman examines the quandary of patients, families and doctors not knowing
the point where enough medical treatment becomes too much treatment. A hidden chain of …

“His defibrillator kept going off... It went off 12 times in one night... He went in and they
looked at it... they said they adjusted it and they sent him back home. The next day we had to …

late referral, family members reported that physicians were a barrier to earlier hospice
referral. 19 It can be difficult to determine when to transition from nonhospice palliative care …

Significant mortality benefits have been documented in recipients of implantable
cardioverter defibrillators (ICDs); however, the psychosocial distress created by the …

The purpose of this Consensus Statement is to focus on implantable cardioverter-
defibrillator (ICD) deactivation in patients with irreversible or terminal illness. This statement …

Cardiac tachyarrhythmias are recurrent or chronic and in some cases life-threatening
conditions. Heart rhythm disturbances are often highly symptomatic and the psychological …

Advances in medicine have changed how patients experience the end of life. With longer life
spans, there has also been an increase in years lived with disability. The clustering of …