“It's not something that's really been brought up”: Opportunities and challenges for ongoing advance care planning discussions among individuals living with mechanical circulatory support

Advance care planning (ACP) among individuals living with a mechanical circulatory support (MCS) device is complex as the trajectory is typified by recurring life-threatening complications with a limited three-year survival rate of 57%.1 Additionally, 89.2% of MCS patients report experiencing complications such as gastrointestinal bleeding, stroke, and sepsis.2 –4 Against this background, in 2013, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and the Joint Commission required MCS teams to include palliative care consultations to enhance ACP communication early in the trajectory, specifically during the evaluation for MCS surgery.

Source: Heart and Lung - March 23, 2022 Category: Intensive Care Authors: Tiffany Dzou, Jaime D. Moriguchi, Lynn Doering, Jo-Ann Eastwood, Carol Pavlish, Huibrie C. Pieters Source Type: research