How Hospice and Palliative Care Can Help Patients with Cardiac Disease

Heart failure can cause a variety of debilitating symptoms. These may include shortness of breath (dyspnea), chronic fatigue, fluid retention, and severe chest pain. Managing these symptoms is central to improving a patient’s quality of life. Palliative and hospice care specialists use a variety of treatments, including medications, breathing techniques, physical therapy, and advanced symptom management strategies, to ensure patients are as comfortable as possible.

For instance, pain or discomfort caused by heart disease can be controlled with appropriate medications, while shortness of breath can be alleviated with oxygen therapy or breathing exercises. Anxiety and depression are common among those with severe cardiac disease, and hospice teams can offer counseling, medications, and integrative therapies to help manage emotional distress. Your palliative care nurse practitioner can provide referrals and work with your physician to order the correct medication.

Traditional cardiac treatments focus on prolonging life, often through invasive procedures, medications, or surgeries. However, for many patients with advanced heart disease, these treatments may no longer offer significant benefits and can sometimes lead to unnecessary discomfort or complications. Hospice and palliative care provide an alternative by focusing on making the time remaining as meaningful and comfortable as possible.

The care team collaborates with the patient and their family to understand their values, goals, and preferences. This allows for individualized care plans that prioritize comfort, dignity, and emotional well-being, rather than focusing solely on survival. For example, a patient who values time with family may choose to reduce the frequency of hospital visits and instead receive home-based care, allowing them to spend more time with loved ones in a familiar setting.

Chronic cardiac disease often brings emotional and psychological challenges, both for patients and their families. Patients may struggle with feelings of anxiety, depression, or fear about the future, while family members may feel overwhelmed by caregiving responsibilities or grief.

Palliative care provides a social worker who can be a resource to you for support, hiring caregivers and using other resources.
Hospice care provides the richness of a full interdisciplinary team that includes social workers, chaplains, nurse’s aides, nurses, volunteers, and integrative therapies.

These professionals can help patients process their feelings about their illness and impending death, while also providing family members with guidance on coping strategies, grief support, and the emotional aspects of caregiving. This comprehensive approach allows the patient and their family to better navigate the emotional complexities that arise in the context of serious illness.

Chronic cardiac disease often brings emotional and psychological challenges, both for patients and their families. Patients may struggle with feelings of anxiety, depression, or fear about the future, while family members may feel overwhelmed by caregiving responsibilities or grief.

Palliative care provides a social worker who can be a resource to you for support, hiring caregivers and using other resources.
Hospice care provides the richness of a full interdisciplinary team that includes social workers, chaplains, nurse’s aides, nurses, volunteers, and integrative therapies.

These professionals can help patients process their feelings about their illness and impending death, while also providing family members with guidance on coping strategies, grief support, and the emotional aspects of caregiving. This comprehensive approach allows the patient and their family to better navigate the emotional complexities that arise in the context of serious illness.

Every patient’s experience with cardiac disease is unique, which is why a one-size-fits-all approach is often insufficient. Hospice and palliative care teams collaborate closely with the patient, their family, and their primary care provider to develop a personalized care plan. This plan reflects the patient’s specific symptoms, needs, values, and preferences.

For example, a patient with advanced heart failure might need a tailored medication regimen to manage pain and shortness of breath, while also requiring psychological support to address anxiety related to their prognosis. Palliative care team nurse practitioners will also coordinate with cardiologists to ensure that any ongoing treatments are aligned with the patient’s goals. Palliative care can also use telehealth to monitor important vital signs.

Caring for someone with advanced cardiac disease can be physically and emotionally exhausting. Palliative and hospice care teams recognize the strain that caregiving can place on family members and offer support to caregivers.

The Hospice Medicare Benefit provides 5 days of inpatient respite at our inpatient unit or a contracted long-term care facility.
Additionally, hospice care includes a minimum of 13 months of grief support, helping families cope with grief after the patient’s death. This long-term support is a key element of the hospice experience and helps families navigate the difficult journey of loss.