Introduction

In order to best cope with heart failure, particularly with congestive heart failure (CHF), support by a multidisciplinary team of health care professionals, including your primary care physician, is essential – with your doctor and nurse as the core staff. They will serve as an anchor and contact point for a variety of information that you should collect to better understand your condition and your risks, but also about your treatment options and opportunities to improve self-care.

Ask your doctor, ask your nurse! They are educated to answer questions addressing heart failure drugs and medicines including both effects and side effects, device options including cardiac resynchronisation therapy (CRT) and/or implanted defibrillator therapy (ICD), and potential surgical options. Importantly, they can also give advice on where to obtain additional help, for example through dedicated heart failure programmes or heart failure clinics or the option to participate in a telemonitoring programme.

This section aims to help you to understand the different treatments and services that can help you to manage and improve your ability to live well with heart failure.