At the start of the chapter, we were introduced to Darshan who provided us with a ‘patient voice’ and allowed us some insight in to his patient journey. Please read Darshan’s account (at the beginning of chapter 25) of his journey so far and consider what information you think may be useful to Darshan in regard to helping him to manage his condition?

A proposed response to this question might include gaining a fuller understanding of Darshan through a holistic nursing assessment. Specific areas that may help to tailor the information to meet Darshan’s needs are as follows:

• to explore with Darshan the symptoms that he perceives to be due to his heart failure
• to explore the strategies that help him to manage his symptoms
• to provide him with information that makes sense and helps him to understand his condition better
• to explore the best format of information in order to meet Darshan’s needs, for example, hard copy, internet based, large print, language preference