What competencies are needed in the specialist multidisciplinary heart failure team?
The committee noted that the main professionals involved in delivering or co-ordinating interventions in the included studies were cardiovascular or heart failure specialist nurses. Based on this evidence, the committee agreed that a nursing element was needed, and emphasised that a specialist heart failure nursing competency was necessary; as the evidence suggested that it was not possible to get the same clinical improvements from generalist nurses. Additionally, a lead physician with specialist expertise in heart failure was critical, and this will usually be a consultant cardiologist, but there may be areas where other consultants would also be suitable, such as a consultant in elderly care.