Questions about heart failure? How to find reliable information

How can I recognise high-quality health information?

Basically, your doctor is and remains your first point of contact, especially when it comes to acute symptoms. If you want to find out more about heart failure in general or prepare for a specific visit to the doctor - for example, if you are ill yourself or a relative is affected - you will find a number of reputable sites on the Internet. However, with almost two million hits for the search term "heart failure", it is important to separate the wheat from the chaff. Characteristics of good and reputable sites include

• The author's details, including qualifications, the date of creation and last update, and the sources used below the text; this allows you to trace who wrote the text and when, and where the medical information comes from - usually studies or medical literature
• Details of who the information is aimed at, e.g. patients or doctors
• The sources cited should be up-to-date and not older than five years

It is also a good sign if the website is operated by neutral and independent institutions, foundations or associations.

In both the UK and Ireland, organizations producing health information can obtain quality seals to demonstrate their adherence to high standards. The Patient Information Forum's PIF TICK certification is a key quality mark in the UK for both print and digital information, while the European Institute for Health Records' EuroRec seal is relevant for electronic health record systems in Ireland.
British Heart Foundation is one of the websites with the PIF tick (https://www.bhf.org.uk/).

Where can I find information on the Internet?

Comprehensive information on heart failure is provided, for example, by British Heart Foundation and the website of the Heart Failure Matters. Another good address is NHS UK.

So-called guidelines are comprehensive recommendations on specific diseases and serve as a guide for doctors when recognising (diagnosing) and treating (treating) diseases such as heart failure. It can happen that there is not just one guideline for a disease, but several, as various institutions and/or specialist associations draw them up - either jointly or independently. These institutions include, for example, National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE). Specialist societies, on the other hand, are associations of scientifically active specialist groups such as cardiologists, i.e. doctors who specialise in the heart in UK have joined to form the British Cardiovascular Society (BCS) and the Irish Cardiac Society (ICS). The guidelines are available free of charge and are regularly updated to reflect the latest research in diagnosis and treatment.

Patient guidelines are based on these guidelines for doctors, but are written in a more accessible language so that non-medical professionals can also understand them. For example, you can find out how to proceed with the diagnosis of heart failure or how this condition can be treated. These recommendations can contribute greatly to a good patient-doctor relationship. As a high-quality source, they can help to make it easier to understand the disease as well as the medical treatment or prescribed therapy. Patient guidelines are also available free of charge on the Internet.

Where can I find information outside the Internet?

If you do not have access to the Internet or are still unsure which information on the Internet is trustworthy, you can contact your health insurance company or the British Heart Foundation. It is often possible to obtain information by telephone or have information material sent to you in the form of brochures. Another alternative outside the digital world is to visit a self-help group. Here, you can talk to like-minded people, which can help you to cope better with your condition.