Get With The Guidelines® - Heart Failure Clinical Tools

Get With The Guidelines^®- Heart Failure (GWTG-HF) is much more than a data registry. It's a comprehensive program for supporting quality heart failure care, including a library of tools and resources to help improve processes and maximize effectiveness.

The library includes forms and tools that have proven successful at other hospitals participating in Get With The Guidelines-HF. We offer these documents only to give you an idea of other hospitals' solutions. By including the documents on this website, the American Heart Association does not represent that they are complete, accurate or efficacious, or that they follow all of the American Heart Association guidelines for secondary and primary prevention of cardiovascular events. Hospitals should design their order sets, discharge instructions and other tools based on their own procedures and professional experience.

Get With The Guidelines - Heart Failure Clinical Tools Library

Supporting Guidelines

• 2017 ACC/AHA/HFSA Focused Update of the 2013 ACCF/AHA Guideline for the Management of Heart Failure(link opens in new window)(link opens in new window)
• 2016 ACC/AHA/HFSA Focused Update on New Pharmacological Therapy for Heart Failure: An Update of the 2013 ACCF/AHA Guideline for the Management of Heart Failure(link opens in new window)(link opens in new window) 
• Slide Set (Document): This provides an overview of the key recommendations included in the updated guidelines
• Commentary:(link opens in new window)(link opens in new window) The commentary entitled "What is New in the 2013 ACCF/AHA Guidelines for the Management of Heart Failure?" by Biykem Bozkurt, MD, PhD provides the author's perspective on how the new guidelines are important to providers.
• Top Ten Things to Know (PDF)

Program Resources

• Heart Failure Fact Sheet (PDF)
• CRF (PDF)
• Target: Heart Failure Rationale (PDF)
• Solutions To Common Barriers (PDF)

Patient Education

• Life's Simple 7 

• SCA Prevention: AMI Patient Discharge Contract (Document) 
• Palomar Medical Center: Patient Education: Living with Heart Failure (Document)
• SCA Prevention: HF Patient Discharge Contract (Document) 
• St. Anthony Hospitals Centura Health: Patient Education: Symptom Tracker (Document) 
• St. Anthony Hospitals Centura Health: Patient Education: Understanding Heart Failure (Document) 
• University Hospital Case Medical Center: Living With Heart Failure Brochure (English) (PDF)
• University Hospital Case Medical Center: Living With Heart Failure Brochure (Spanish) (PDF)
• University Hospitals Case Medical Center: Heart Failure Education Summary (Document)
• SCA Prevention: Patient Education: What are Arrhythmias (English) (Document) 
• SCA Prevention: Patient Education: What are Arrhythmias (Spanish) (Document) 
• SCA Prevention: Patient Education: Caregiver Information (English) (Document) 
• SCA Prevention: Patient Education: Caregiver Information (Spanish) (Document) 
• SCA Prevention: Patient Education: Diagnosing Heart Failure (English) (Document) 
• SCA Prevention: Patient Education: Diagnosing Heart Failure (Spanish) (Document) 
• SCA Prevention: Patient Education: Medicines (English) (Document) 
• SCA Prevention: Patient Education: Medicines (Spanish) (Document) 
• SCA Prevention: Patient Education: Normal Heart Function (English) (Document) 
• SCA Prevention: Patient Education: Normal Heart Function (Spanish)  (Document) 
• SCA Prevention: Patient Education: SCA Patient Fact Sheet (English) (Document) 
• SCA Prevention: Patient Education: Provider Contact Info (English) (Document) 
• SCA Prevention: Patient Education: Provider Contact Info (Spanish) (Document) 
• SCA Prevention: Patient Education: Patient Post ICD SCA FAQs (English) (Document) 
• SCA Prevention: Patient Education: Patient Post ICD SCA FAQs (Spanish) (Document) 
• SCA Prevention: Patient Education: Patient Pre ICD SCA FAQs (English) (Document) 
• SCA Prevention: Patient Education: Patient Pre ICD SCA FAQs (Spanish) (Document) 
• SCA Prevention: Patient Education: Roadmap Better Health (English) (Document) 
• SCA Prevention: Patient Education: Roadmap Better Health (Spanish) (Document) 
• SCA Prevention: Patient Education: Role of Ejection Fraction (English) (Document) 
• SCA Prevention: Patient Education: Role of Ejection Fraction (Spanish) (Document) 
• SCA Prevention: Patient Education: What is Heart Failure (English) (Document) 
• SCA Prevention: Patient Education: What is Heart Failure (Spanish) (Document) 
• SCA Prevention: Patient Education: What is SCA (English) (Document) 
• SCA Prevention: Patient Education: What is SCA (Spanish) (Document) 
• SCA Prevention: Patient Education: What To Do To Manage Heart Failure (English) (Document) 
• SCA Prevention: Patient Education: What To Do To Manage Heart Failure (Spanish) (Document) 
• ValleyCare Health System Patient Education Teach Back Tool (including explanation) (Document)
• ValleyCare Health System Patient Education Heart Failure Zones (Document)

Other Best Practice Tools

• Cleveland Clinic Hospital (Florida): Patient Family Teaching Record (PDF)
• Denton Regional Medical Center: Heart Failure Screening Checklist (Document) 
• Marion General Hospital Ohio Health Heart Failure Screening Checklist (PDF)
• The Reading Hospital and Medical Center : Readmission Assessment Tool (PDF)
• SCA Prevention: Hospital Letter (Document) 
• St. Anthony Hospitals Centura Health: Heart Failure Chart Reminder (Document) 
• St. Anthony Hospitals Centura Health: Heart Failure Physician Outlier Letter (Document) 
• ValleyCare Health System: Sticker for ACE (PDF)
• Winthrop University Hospital: HF Critical Event Guideline Tool - 2009 (PDF)

Feedback Form

We value your feedback on the clinical tools library and its content. Please take a moment to provide us with your feedback on how we could make this toolkit better.