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Nurses' Knowledge of Heart Failure Self Management Principles

Thursday, 15 July 2010

Tara L. Mahramus, MSN, RN, CNS, CCNS, CCRN
Advanced Practice Nursing and Research, Orlando Health, Orlando, FL
Debbie A. Wilson, RN
Visiting Nurse Association, Orlando Health Visiting Nurse Association, Orlando, FL

Learning Objective 1: describe the five heart failure self management topics of education.

Learning Objective 2: determine correlations between demographic information and the knowledge base of the nurses' heart failure self management principles.

Purpose: Heart Failure (HF) is a global healthcare problem with national readmission rates of 45-50%. Patient knowledge of self-management is associated with improved compliance and reduced readmissions. Nurse knowledge about self-management of HF may influence their ability to adequately perform discharge education. Nurses in acute care or home health settings may not be adequately prepared to educate patients on self-management of HF and may impact self-care and readmission. The purpose of this exploratory and descriptive study is to determine nurses’ knowledge of HF self-management.

Methods: A convenience sample of nurses who work directly with HF patients from a HF Unit and Home Health will be recruited. Each subject will be asked to complete an online survey based upon a validated tool called The Nurses’ Knowledge of Heart Failure Education Principles. This survey measures five areas of knowledge on HF self management. The Statistical Package for the Social Sciences will be used for statistical analyses. Descriptive statistics will be used for sample characteristics and scores. ANOVA and independent t test will be used to detect differences in scores by unit and nurse demographics.

Results: Data collection is in progress.  

Conclusion: Information from this study will provide a better understanding of nurse’s knowledge of self care management for HF and to identify nurse’s education needs.

Albert NM, Collier S, Sumodi V, et al. (2002). Nurses’ knowledge of heart failure education principles. Heart & Lung, 31,102-112.
Aranda JM, Johnson JW, Conti JB (2009). Current trends in heart failure readmission rates: Analysis of Medicare data. Clinical Cardiology, 32, 47-52.
Valle R, Aspromonte N, Carbonieri E, et al. (2008). Fall in readmission rate for heart failure after implementation of B-type natriuretic peptide testing for discharged decision: A retrospective study. International J of Card, 126, 400-406.

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