Palliative care for patients with heart failure in critical care: scoping review

Introduction: Heart failure is a chronic condition affecting thousands globally. At some stage of their illness, these individuals require critical care. Palliative care is essential throughout the course of the disease. Objective: To map the evidence on palliative care for people with heart failure in critical care. Methods: A scoping review was conducted following the methodology proposed by the Joanna Briggs Institute. Searches were performed in electronic databases: MEDLINE Complete (via EBSCO), CINAHL (via EBSCO), PubMed, Web of Science, and Repositórios Científicos de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (RCAAP, via b-on). Results: 10 sources of evidence were included in this review. The results were grouped into 2 categories-palliative care in the emergency department and palliative care in the intensive care unit. Eight subcategories were identified: identification of the need for palliative care; symptom control; communication, decision-making and advance care planning; management of implantable cardiac devices and ventricular assistance; the dying process; culturally sensitive care; definition of prognosis; bioethical principles and informed consent. Conclusion: Critical care settings are the places where people with heart failure turn to for help with their illness. There are specific interventions for each context that can increase people's quality of life.