• Background Hope is seldom described in patients with heart failure, despite high morbidity and mortality for this population. • Objectives To describe hope in hospitalized patients with heart failure and to evaluate influences of demographic and health-related variables on hope. • Methods Ninety-three patients with heart failure and 441 healthy control subjects completed questionnaires about sociodemographics, health indices, disease severity, and the Herth Hope Index. • Results The patients with heart failure had a mean age of 75 years; 65% were men, and 47% lived alone. Lung diseases and diabetes were the most common comorbid diseases, with 58% classified as New York Heart Association class III. The mean global hope score among patients with heart failure was 37.69 (SD 5.3). Patients with skin (P = .01) and psychiatric (P = .02) disorders reported lower hope scores. Number of comorbid diseases was the only predictor of hope related to disease-specific variables (P = .01). Mean age of the control subjects was 60 years, and 66 (15%) lived alone. Once demographic variables were controlled for, patients with heart failure had significantly higher global hope scores than did control subjects. • Conclusions Adaptation to a life-threatening illness may induce a “response shift” that causes such patients to have more hope than the general population. Patients with heart failure may be more concerned with the past than the future. How patients judge their health and satisfaction with life influences their hope. Interventions supporting hope in patients with heart failure may influence treatment goals.

Changes in medical education and healthcare reimbursement are recent threats to most academic medical centers’ dual mission of patient care and education. Financial pressures stem from reduced insurance reimbursement, capitation, and changes in public funding for medical residency education. Pressures for innovation result from increasing numbers of patients, higher acuity of patients, an aging population of patients with complex problems, and restrictions on residency workloads. A framework for addressing the need for innovation in the medical service at a large academic medical center is presented. The framework enables acute care nurse practitioners to provide inpatient medical management in collaboration with a hospitalist. The model’s development, acceptance, successes, pitfalls, and evaluation are described. The literature describing the use of nurse practitioners in acute care settings is reviewed.

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Although advances have been made in the management of heart failure (HF), hospital readmission rates remain high. Finding a simple blood test to identify HF would dramatically impact the diagnosis and treatment of this syndrome. A better understanding of the pathophysiology of HF may result in improved treatment measures. Current guidelines do not target any clinical or hemodynamic criteria to achieve before discharge. Most efforts to reduce readmissions have been focused on drugs, technology, and the use of specialty HF clinics. Brain natriuretic peptide (BNP) levels have the potential of providing diagnostic, prognostic, and therapeutic information. In addition, BNP levels appear to be associated with future cardiac events such as hospital readmission. The purpose of this article is to review the precision and accuracy of BNP measurement in those with HF, and to describe how measurement of BNP can be used in clinical practice. Ultimately, BNP testing may improve the accuracy of the diagnosis of HF and guide best treatment practices.