Table 4.

Number of articles that recommended palliative care referral based on prognosis

Sub-category	N (% = N/37)
“Surprise question”*	14 (38)
Validated risk score†	10 (27)
Life expectancy < 1 year	7 (19)
Elevated BNP	4 (11)
Unspecified	4 (11)

Abbreviations: Seattle Heart Failure Model (SHFM), North American Evaluation Study of Congestive Heart Failure and Pulmonary Artery Catheterization Effectiveness (ESCAPE), Get With The Guidelines-Heart Failure (GWTG-HF), Enhanced Feedback for Effective Cardiac Treatment (EFFECT), CardioVascular Medicine Heart Failure (CVM-HF), B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP)

^*“Surprise question” asked to clinicians is “Would you be surprised if this patient were to die within the next year?”

^†ESCAPE risk score > 50%, SHFM score > 85%, EFFECT score >33% 1-year mortality, GWTG-HF score > 58, CVM-HF index score > 12