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Pharmacists play a crucial role in the management of heart failure, contributing to patient-specific, facility-specific, and population services. They are key stakeholders in ensuring the optimization of guideline-directed medical therapy (GDMT) for heart failure patients, including medication selection, optimization, and adherence. Studies have shown that involving pharmacists in the care team leads to higher rates of achieving GDMT, resulting in lower mortality and hospitalization rates. However, there are challenges in embedding pharmacists in all clinical settings globally, including training, access, and scope of practice. Health institutions, clinicians, and organizations need to advocate for the inclusion of pharmacists in heart failure care and support their training and development. [Extracted from the article]

Cardiac sarcoidosis is an infiltrative cardiomyopathy that results from granulomatous inflammation of the myocardium and may present with high-grade conduction disease, ventricular arrhythmias, and right or left ventricular dysfunction. Over the past several decades, the prevalence of cardiac sarcoidosis has increased. Definitive histological confirmation is often not possible, so clinicians frequently face uncertainty about the accuracy of diagnosis. Hence, the likelihood of cardiac sarcoidosis should be thought of as a continuum (definite, highly probable, probable, possible, low probability, unlikely) rather than in a binary fashion. Treatment should be initiated in individuals with clinical manifestations and active inflammation in a tiered approach, with corticosteroids as first-line treatment. The lack of randomized clinical trials in cardiac sarcoidosis has led to treatment decisions based on cohort studies and consensus opinions, with substantial variation observed across centers. This scientific statement is intended to guide clinical practice and to facilitate management conformity by providing a framework for the diagnosis and management of cardiac sarcoidosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Acute heart failure (AHF) is a common cause of hospitalization, particularly among older individuals, and has high mortality and readmission rates. Adherence to guideline-directed medical therapy (GDMT) is crucial for improving outcomes in heart failure (HF) patients, as non-adherence can lead to exacerbations and adverse outcomes. However, studies have shown that medication non-adherence rates among HF patients can be as high as 70%. Various factors contribute to non-adherence, including patient circumstances, treatment-related factors, and healthcare system and payer factors. Adherence interventions, such as patient education, medication regimen management, and reminders, have been shown to improve medication adherence and reduce mortality and hospital readmissions in HF patients. Improving adherence to GDMT is essential for improving AHF outcomes, and further research is needed to identify effective approaches to enhance medication adherence. [Extracted from the article]