Empowering Heart Failure Patients: The Role, Importance, and Considerations of Active Patient Engagement in Improving Delivery of Guideline-Directed Medical Therapy.

Heart failure (HF) is a chronic syndrome that is associated with frequent rehospitalization. Patient-focused research suggests that increased health-management activation may lead to favorable clinical outcomes. This article introduces a case study of the development of a patient education and activation tool for use by HF-specialist clinicians, "ENGAGE in HF," and advocates for wider adoption of co-creation involving people living with HF. Following a behavioral assessment of unmet needs in the HF-patient population in scientific literature, people living with HF were invited to comment on the content plan and excerpts from the tool. Afterwards, HF-specialist clinicians provided their scientific perspective and assessed the content's practical utility. The co-created tool aims to improve dialogue between clinicians and patients. It allows clinicians to personalize conversations, considering each patient's capacity to integrate information and their readiness to engage in shared decision making. Feedback from initial dissemination of the ENGAGE in HF tool among cardiologists in China suggests that use of such tools may lead to improvements in patient education, symptom management, and adherence to medication.