The goal of heart failure treatment in outpatient and home care settings is to maintain the patient’s quality of life and prevent rehospitalization. Treatment primarily involves medication management, including the adjustment of diuretics and vasodilators. Early therapeutic intervention and prevention of exacerbating factors are also crucial.
At our clinic, in collaboration with Medical Clinic Azamino, we actively provide home care for heart failure patients. Home care requires the coordination of a multidisciplinary team, where the role of the pharmacist is especially important. Pharmacists assess the patient’s living environment, monitor medication adherence, and re-evaluate the necessity of prescribed drugs. These efforts help maintain the quality of life for heart failure patients.
Home care emphasizes providing care in the patient’s living environment and offering support to both the patient and their family. Through these efforts, it is possible to preserve the quality of life for heart failure patients.
In addition, heart failure treatment in home care may involve respiratory support therapies such as CPAP (Continuous Positive Airway Pressure) and ASV (Adaptive Servo Ventilation). These therapies are used to prevent heart failure patients from experiencing nocturnal breathing difficulties.
CPAP is commonly used to treat obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSA). In this therapy, the patient wears a special mask while sleeping, which maintains positive airway pressure in the lungs, preventing airway collapse and reducing episodes of apnea. As a result, daytime sleepiness is alleviated, and the likelihood of rehospitalization for heart failure is reduced.
On the other hand, ASV is used for sleep-disordered breathing (SDB) associated with heart failure. ASV helps regulate breathing and relieve oxygen deprivation by using a mask worn during sleep to assist with respiration. ASV is employed when CPAP is ineffective or when the patient cannot tolerate CPAP.
The use of ASV contributes to the reduction of heart failure symptoms, improvement of exercise tolerance, and stabilization of left ventricular function. These treatments aim to improve the quality of life for heart failure patients and prevent rehospitalization. The proper use and management of these treatments in home care play a critical role in maintaining the quality of life for heart failure patients. Home care focuses on providing care in the patient’s living environment and offering support to both the patient and their family.
At our clinic, we provide CPAP and ASV treatments as needed and when appropriate. For patients requiring home care, we collaborate with Medical Clinic Azamino to administer ASV therapy.