Charm Clinic

CHARM Clinic

The CHARM (Community Heart Failure Assessment, Rehabilitations and Management) Clinic is Alberta’s ONLY community based, outpatient clinic which is run on a charitable basis with the support and donations from the DIL WALK Foundation and Advanced Cardiology. The clinic is physician directed, but patient care is managed by a nurse.The CHARM Clinic team consist of Heart Failure and Heart Transplant specialist, Cardiologist, Internal Medicine, Heart Function Nurse, Respiratory therapist, Echocardiogram and Stress Test Technicians.

The CHARM Clinic’s goal is to help keep the patient in the community and out of the hospital. The Family Physician can refer directly to the CHARM Clinic when Heart Failure is suspected. The patient will be seen by a Cardiologist. Once diagnosis is confirmed, the patient is then given a second appointment with the Heart Failure Nurse to provide assistance with self-management, patient education and help with medications. The patient also gets followed by the Heart Failure Specialist to opimize medications and avoid hospitalizations. Patients who do not have a Heart Failure diagnosis or if their heart function improves will receive continued care in the general cardiology clinic.

At CHARM Clinic, patients are taught self-care by providing them with a 1:1 session with a nurse, who teaches them about daily weights, fluid/sodium restrictions, warning signs that Heart Failure is getting worse. In addition, patients are provided with patient handouts. Also, plan or goals which they should focus on until their next visit. These goals are mutually agreed upon between the nurse and patient. Again, adopting notion that care should be patient focused, which helps to improve patient outcomes.

The CHARM Clinic also engages in different research trials.

We have an on-going research for Atrial Fibrillation patients which is the BRAIN-AF ( Blinded Randomized trial of Anticoagulation to prevent Ischemic stroke and Neurocognitive impairmant in Atrial Fibrillation). We also have the GOAL study ( Guidelines Oriented Approach to Lipid lowering in Canada). We are currently recruiting patients to participate in both trials, if you are interested please contact us at 403-235-4109.

To refer a patient to the Heart Function (CHARM) Clinic click here, and fax

The CHARM Clinic also engages in different research trials.

To refer a patient to the Heart Function (CHARM) Clinic click here, and fax