July 20th, 2010
Who Should Treat Advanced HF/Transplant Patients?
Larry Husten, PHD
The ACC, AHA, and several other organizations have released the first Clinical Competence Statement on Management of Patients With Advanced Heart Failure and Cardiac Transplant. “The current statement describes the level of experience, knowledge, and technical skills necessary for competent performance in caring for these complex patients,” write the authors of the report, including the chair of the writing committee, Gary Francis.
I have read the statement and found it very useful. HF & cardiac transplantation is a brand new specialty and, depending on the country where you practice, it is not as well defined as other specialties in Cardiology. Contrary to other specialties, which are mainly technical, HF is much more based on a cognitive skill basis. HF patients are complex and need a multidisciplinary approach that implies coordination along the illness process, and the HF specialist is the one who best performs this role.
I think that the board accreditation is a very good idea, and that this should prompt physicians in other countries to develop local statements in order to define the clinical competence on management of HF & cardiac transplantation patients. This will be helpful for both physicians and patients and will certainly improve the quality of health care.
I am a practicing HF specialist and would like to know the opinion of other colleagues on this subject.
Competing interests pertaining specifically to this post, comment, or both:
None.