Grant: Team Grant: Heart Failure Research Network

This research Network will strive to halt the progression of heart failure (HF), increase our understanding of the mechanisms involved and improve the quality of life of Canadians living with HF. The network will be anchored in a Patient-Public-Research Partnership involving patients and caregivers, as well as health professionals and healthcare systems experts to improve patient quality of life and HF care. This approach will evaluate the trajectory of HF through a new paradigm, as a learning health environment, centered on the patient - their knowledge, experience, needs and priorities. The Network will strive to improve the integration and coordination of health systems to reduce HF care inequities, improve access to evidence-based management consistent with current guidelines, improve access to coordinated transitions and integrated care, and improve support and information for people living with HF, including families and informal caregivers to improve overall health outcomes and quality of life. There will be a focus on improving the hospital discharge experience, transitions of care to the community, including integrated connected home care services, as well as virtual care, and tech enabled self-care. Indigenous-specific and -led research will be predicated on priorities identified by Indigenous leaders and Elders, as well as First Nations, Inuit and Métis with lived HF experience. Etuaptmumk (Two-eyed Seeing) will interweave Indigenous research philosophies and methodologies with the best of Western approaches. Mechanistic and Translational HF Research designed to understand the pathophysiology, prevention, complications and progression of HF using the modern-day tools of 'omics' science, molecular epidemiology and advanced computational methods. A progressive approach which includes factors such as patient frailty, nutrition, socio-economic and social status in assessing the importance of the various determinants of HF and HF outcomes will be used.