A nurse-guided patient-centered heart failure education program

Abstract

Objective/Background: Heart Failure (HF) places substantial burden on patients, families, communities, and care systems. Patients who suffer from HF often experience a decline in health resulting in recurrent hospitalizations and debilitating symptoms including breathing problems, fluid retention, and chronic fatigue.  HF is the most common cause of repeat hospitalizations in the Medicare program and is estimated to cost the health care system billions of dollars each year. The objective of this article is to review the literature on educational strategies to reduce HF related readmissions and improve self-care management for patients with HF after hospital discharge.

Methods: A structured review of PubMed, CINAHL, and MEDLINE resulted in 42 articles. The studies included 13 randomized control trials, six systematic reviews, and 23 studies using quasi-experimental, retrospective or descriptive designs on HF

Practice Implications: Current research indicates that assessing patient’s self-care ability and deploying standardized patient education programs focused on self-care management significantly lower exacerbations of symptoms, emergency department visits, and readmission for HF patients. Adding telephone follow-up for continued assessment and support of the patient’s self-care ability can reduce readmissions by 80% and prove to be a cost effective intervention.

Measuring the patients self-care ability, deploying a standardized nurse guiding patient education program that includes telephone follow up is suggested in the evidence can result in decreased admissions and improved health outcomes.