Does advance care planning in addition to usual care reduce hospitalisation for patients with advanced heart failure: A systematic review and narrative synthesis.

Kernick LA, Hogg KJ2, Millerick Y, Murtagh FEM, Djahit A, Johnson M.
Palliat Med. 2018 Dec;32(10):1539-1551. doi: 10.1177/0269216318801162. Epub 2018 Sep 20.

A systematic review evaluated 8 studies (14,357 participants with a mean age 75 years) in patients with heart failure from an in/out patient setting, and looked if advance care planning (ACP), together with the usual care, reduces the number of hospital admissions for these patients. Quality of the studies was moderate for randomised controlled studies and low for observational ones. The results showed that when ACP was delivered as part of an integrated team of cardiology and specialist palliative care it reduced hospital admissions and time in hospital, increased hospice use and patients achieved their preferred place of care and death. Also when ACP was provided as part of a specialist palliative care intervention, this helped with quality of life and symptoms.

Composed by Elaine Boland.