Heart Failure Support Group

Background/Objectives Heart Failure, a leading disease that is responsible for hospitalizing and/or killing millions of Americans every year. Heart Failure is amongst the leading diagnosis that results in frequent admission and readmission rates, resulting in millions of dollars spent by health care facilities every year. Lack of information, comprehension, and communication regarding heart failure and treatment provided by healthcare provider's, results in patients being hospitalized more frequently for longer admissions. To aid the improvement in heart failure management the focus group will concentrate on increasing patient knowledge of heart failure and ways to better manage this disease. The overall goal was to improve the knowledge base of heart failure patients on 5E by 90% after attending the focus group. Methods In efforts to better serve the heart failure population, the Heart Failure Unit at Christiana Care developed a focus group that concentrates on heart failure education and maintenance strategies. The focus group provides biweekly sessions organized by the Facilitator and a RN III who provided education sessions that discuss what heart failure is, how it can be treated and life style change that must occur to control symptoms (examples: daily weights, low sodium diets, family support, follow up with medical professionals, what to eat while at a restaurant). Evaluation of heart failure knowledge prior to attending the focus group was determined by having the patients complete a pretest. The pretest identified patient's knowledge base of heart failure, frequency and cause of heart failure admissions, and an assessment on identifying signs of heart failure and how it can be controlled. With review of the pretest 66.6% of patients identified lack of knowledge as their cause of readmission while 33.4% identified lack of desire to create lifestyle changes. With a large percentage identifying lack of knowledge as a main source of readmission, it was clear that guidance and education was necessary to better provide for these patients. Results/outcomes After attending the heart failure focus group, patients were asked to repeat the test with their new-found knowledge. Comparison of the pre and post test results identified that 100% of patients felt their knowledge base of the discussed heart failure topic had increased after attending the focus group. 66.6% of the patients that attended the focus group were able to identify signs of heart failure that require medical attention and ways to prevent progression of the disease after the educational session. Positive feedback from patients and results of knowledge base were identified after reviewing the results following the focus group. Conclusion Reviewing the results obtained post focus group identified a weakness in the lack of participants and frequency of group sessions. Over the next year the focus group will be increased frequency to three days a week as well as attempt to increase the number of participants. After establishment of the focus group, we hope to encourage other units to implement a similar educational experience or to participate in the focus group improve patient care and education for all heart failure patients.