Abstract

Problem: Congestive heart failure (CHF) is a challenging health concern and generates a multitude of issues including increased mortality rates and hospital readmission rates, and drastically decreases the quality of lives for patients affected with this health issue. This project was designed to investigate whether or not patients receiving care within a large cardiology clinic in the Midwest gained increased knowledge and disease management skills regarding their diagnosis, prognosis, dietary and activity guidelines, as well as symptom recognition and management when participating in CHF education classes provided by a designated CHF nurse educator over a four-week period.

Intervention: The CHF educational classes implemented during this project would include providing education to patients regarding their diagnosis, dietary guidelines, activity guidelines, the importance of medication adherence, and the necessity of consistent follow up with respective healthcare providers. The classes would be conducted by a registered nurse (RN) and given on a weekly basis and allow for open dialogue from class participants during and after the sixty-minute timeframe allotted for each weekly class.

Measures: Anonymous patient feedback would be obtained from multiple choice questionnaires given before and after each class to assess gained knowledge and understanding for class participants. The results of the questionnaires would determine the effectiveness of the content of the classes and assess for gaps in basic CHF patient knowledge and management strategies.

Results: The classes were not implemented as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Conclusion: Although the CHF classes were unable to be implemented, the classes have had the ability to increase patients understanding of CHF, their knowledge and symptomatic awareness, the importance of medication adherence , dietary guidelines, as well as the importance of follow up appointment attendance. This greater base of patient knowledge may impact and reduce hospital readmissions and mortality within CHF patient populations.

Author Details

Sarah C. Poe, RN, BSN, DNP Student and Dr. Lyndsi Hall, DNP, RN Adjunct Faculty at Nebraska Methodist College

Sigma Membership

Unknown

Lead Author Affiliation

Nebraska Methodist College, Omaha, Nebraska, USA

Type

DNP Capstone Project

Format Type

Text-based Document

Study Design/Type

Other

Research Approach

Translational Research/Evidence-based Practice

Keywords:

Congestive Heart Failure, Medication Adherence, Follow-Up Appointments, Hospital Readmission Rates, Dietary Guidelines, Patient Knowledge

Advisor

Hall, Lyndsi

Degree

DNP

Degree Grantor

Nebraska Methodist College

Degree Year

2022

Rights Holder

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All permission requests should be directed accordingly and not to the Sigma Repository.

All submitting authors or publishers have affirmed that when using material in their work where they do not own copyright, they have obtained permission of the copyright holder prior to submission and the rights holder has been acknowledged as necessary.

Review Type

Faculty Approved: Degree-based Submission

Acquisition

Self-submission

Full Text of Presentation

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