Guideline-Directed Medical Therapy Clinic

The Guideline-Directed Medical Therapy Clinic is a nurse-led clinic to help patients gradually increase the dosage of their heart failure medication to the target dosing. Heart failure medication has been proven to lower a patient’s risk of hospitalization and death when they have heart failure with reduced ejection fraction.

Cardiologists at the Heart Institute will refer patients to the clinic as needed.

What to expect

When your cardiologist refers you to the Guideline-Directed Medical Therapy Clinic, a nurse will contact you to review your health information. This will include reviewing medical history and discussing current medication.

If you are followed by the Guideline-Directed Medical Therapy Clinic, you receive a weekly call from an expert cardiac nurse at the Heart Institute to help you with guideline-directed medical therapy medication and target dosing. This medication may include:

• Angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors (ACEi)
• Angiotensin receptor blockers (ARB)
• Angiotensin receptor-neprilysin inhibitors (ARNI)
• Beta-blockers (BB)
• Mineralocorticoid receptor antagonists (MRA)
• Sodium-glucose cotransporter-2 (SGLT2) inhibitors

A nurse will ask you to take your blood pressure and heart rate daily. A nurse will also ask you to have routine blood work completed.

The Heart Institute will update your doctors and pharmacy of your test results and of any required changes in medication and dosing. You will stay in the Guideline-Directed Medical Therapy Clinic for three months once accepted. At that time, you will return to the care of your usual cardiologist.

Patient instructions

If your address or phone number changes, please let the clinic nurse know.

Referrals

For your cardiologist to complete.