heart-failure

First prescriptions for heart failure

This module covers medicines used in the management of heart failure.

Key facts

  • Dapagliflozin and empagliflozin (sodium-glucose co-transporter-2 inhibitors or SGLT2i) are increasingly used in chronic heart failure, including for patients who do not have diabetes
  • Clinical practice for heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF) is moving to the Four Pillars model of prescribing 
  • Community pharmacists will see changes in the medicines prescribed for both new and existing patients. This will include increased use of sacubitril + valsartan and SGLT2i as treatments for heart failure
  • Pharmacists have a vital role in advising and educating new and existing patients about their medicines for heart failure and why it is important to take them.

Contributing author: Alison Warren, consultant pharmacist, cardiology, Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust and Sussex ICS

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