251. CCC: Palliative Care and Shared Decision-Making in the CICU with Dr. Larry Allen

This episode is focused on Palliative Care and Shared Decision-Making in the CICU. In this episode, we learn about how the principles of palliative care and shared decision-making apply to our patients across the spectrum of cardiovascular care, especially in the cardiac intensive care unit. We discuss pivotal trials of specialty palliative care and decision aids in cardiology and how they might inform our practice to enhance patient quality of life and improve goal-concordant care. Finally, we discuss practical tips and communication strategies for how to engage patients about end-of-life decisions and topics that can be utilized from outpatient to inpatient to critical care settings.

“We need to help patients hope for the best and plan for the worst as time goes on.”
Dr. Larry Allen

Series co-chairs Dr. Eunice Dugan and Dr. Karan Desai, along with CardioNerds Co-founder Amit Goyal are joined by FIT lead, Dr. Sarah Chuzi. Dr. Chuzi is a Chicagoan and completed her internal medicine residency, cardiology fellowship, AHFTC fellowship and is now Assistant Professor at Northwestern University. Our episode expert is a true national leader in shared decision-making and palliative care in heart failure – Dr. Larry Allen, Medical Director of Advanced Heart Failure and the Co-Director of the Colorado Program for Patient-Centered Decisions at the University of Colorado School of Medicine. Audio editing by CardioNerds Academy Intern, Dr. Christian Faaborg-Andersen.

The CardioNerds Cardiac Critical Care Series is a multi-institutional collaboration made possible by contributions of stellar fellow leads and expert faculty from several programs, led by series co-chairs,Dr. Mark Belkin,Dr. Eunice Dugan,Dr. Karan Desai, andDr. Yoav Karpenshif.