Canadian Cardiovascular Society Consensus Conference guidelines on heart failure – 2008 update: Best practices for the transition of care of heart failure patients, and the recognition, investigation and treatment of cardiomyopathies

The 2010 Canadian Cardiovascular Society guidelines for the diagnosis and management of heart failure update: Heart failure in ethnic minority populations, heart failure and pregnancy, disease management, and quality improvement/assurance programs

“…For example, the benefits of better in-hospital care may be undone by suboptimal transitional care or outpatient disease management. Previous updates of the CCS HF guidelines (188)(189)(190) have addressed disease management, transitional care and end-of-life planning and care, formulating recommendations that could form the basis for new performance indicators (Table 8). Whatever their source, performance indicators are more likely to be effective if stakeholders are actively involved in their development and application, and if they are sensitive to the organizational context in which they are used (191).…”

The complexity of prognosis communication in heart failure: Patient and cardiologists’ preferences in the outpatient clinical setting

“…Formulating and conveying a prognosis that considers a patient's multiple co-morbidities and that requires care by more than one physician and/or disease-specific specialty demands that someone collates and conveys this information in a way that patients can comprehend [34,35]. Patients in our study were concerned about these gaps in information synthesis and flow.…”

Comparing Sodium Intake Strategies in Heart Failure

“…5 Although the evidence suggests that high sodium intake worsens outcomes, the level of sodium intake that achieves optimal outcomes for patients with HF is unknown. 6–12 All current guidelines emphasize sodium intake restriction; however, there is no consensus on the actual level. Recommendations are either nonspecific or ranging between 2000–3000mg/d, 9 largely based on opinions or observational studies.…”