Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi Launches Heart Failure Academy to Share Pharmacy Expertise

UAE Pharmacists Learn Best Practices in Caring for Heart Failure Patients

​Pharmacists from across the UAE will have the opportunity to gain first-hand experience of Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi’s multi-disciplinary approach to heart failure care at the ‘Heart Failure Academy’, a new healthcare educational initiative.  

The Heart Failure Academy is intended to enable pharmacists to establish heart failure treatment programs within their own hospitals, elevating the level of care patients can access. The syllabus is based on Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi’s successful multidisciplinary heart failure program that has reduced hospital readmissions and implemented advanced therapies for patients.

“Part of our mission at Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi is to support the sustainable development of the UAE’s healthcare sector. We have the benefit of being able to draw upon the knowledge and experience of our teams in Abu Dhabi and at Cleveland Clinic, Ohio, which is ranked the number one heart hospital in the United States,” said Osama Tabbara, Executive Director, Department of Pharmacy Services, Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi.

Taught by caregivers from the hospital’s pharmacy, as well as physicians from the Heart, Vascular & Thoracic Institute​, attendees will be introduced to the multi-disciplinary approach to heart failure employed at Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi. During the two-week course, attendees will learn about the latest guidelines and strategies for caring for patients with heart failure through lectures and practical sessions with patients.

“Recent studies have demonstrated the importance of a multidisciplinary approach to heart failure in order to optimize guideline directed therapies. This course provides our colleagues with the practical tools they need to collaborate and realize their role as medication experts in helping heart failure patients,” said Bassam Atallah, a Pharmacotherapy Specialist in Cardiology at Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi.

While there is no cure for heart failure, which occurs when the heart no longer pumps enough blood to meet the body’s needs, the condition can be managed through lifestyle changes, medications and surgical implants to support the heart’s function. 

“New surgeries and implants have given heart failure patients a tremendous lifeline over the last few years. Getting patients on the right medications, at the right dose, and at the right time is vital to fully realizing these benefits, helping them stay out of hospital,” concluded Atallah.

In advanced cases of heart failure, mechanical circulatory support or heart transplantation can be the only effective treatment options. The Heart Failure Academy will educate pharmacists about the patient journey following surgical interventions and their role in managing such patients before and after surgery, using the hospital’s experience as the UAE’s first and only multi-organ transplant facility. 

For more information about the Heart Failure Academy at Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi, please visit www.ivpnsymposium.org/heart-failure-academy-for-pharmacists/​​