The Heart & Vascular Center at Brigham and Women’s Hospital is known for its patient-centered approach to care and improving quality of life for patients. Chronic heart failure is the leading cause of hospitalization in the elder population. Research suggests that many hospital readmissions can be prevented through intensive outpatient management, decreasing the burdens of this disease for both patients and their health care providers.
At BWH, the key role nurses play in the ACTIVE (Ambulatory Cardiac Triage, Intervention, and Education) Unit provides ongoing treatment of heart failure patients at high-risk for readmission. The unit offers extended ambulatory visits with a specialized nurse and pharmacist to review, reconcile and deliver the heart failure treatment regimen for ambulatory patients who might otherwise require hospital admission. Patients with mild, congestive symptoms can receive advanced care from a multidisciplinary team of specialized heart failure nurse practitioners, registered nurses and pharmacists.
“The ACTIVE Unit manages heart failure patients by providing convenient, comprehensive care, with the goal of preventing hospital admissions and emergency department visits,” said Michelle Young, APRN-BC, nurse practitioner in the Center for Advanced Heart Disease. “This approach also enables our team to get to know every patient and provide individualized care during these sessions.”
