Exercise in heart failure patients: Why and how should nurses care?

Abstract

Although exercise training has been found to be beneficial for the physical capacity and exercise tolerance in heart failure (HF) patients,1 and even though exercise training is recommended as a class I non-pharmacological treatment,2 only a few patients adhere to exercise training or some fail to exercise at all.1 In a recent survey performed by the Heart Failure Association of the European Society of Cardiology in collaboration with the HF National Societies the diversity in management of HF patients in Europe was described.3 In the survey it was also noted that 25 of the 33 responding countries reported that they have HF clinics in their country and it is known that only a limited number of them include an exercise component in HF rehabilitation programmes.4.