Heart Failure Knowledge, Symptom Perception, and Symptom Management in Patients With Heart Failure.
Jia-Rong Wu, Chin-Yen Lin, Muna Hammash and 1 others
PMID 36542682WHAT IT FOUND
Knowing more about heart failure was linked to checking symptoms more often in 185 hospitalized heart failure patients.
More frequent checking was linked to quicker recognition and taking action. Knowledge alone was not directly linked to recognition or action.
Key findings
01Heart failure knowledge was directly associated with symptom monitoring (β=.357, p<.001).
02Symptom monitoring was directly associated with symptom recognition (β=.371, p<.001) and symptom response (β=.499, p<.001).
03Heart failure knowledge was not directly associated with symptom recognition (β=.122, p=.102) or symptom response (β=−.001, p=.985), but was associated with them indirectly through symptom monitoring.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
The patients were hospitalized with an acute heart failure exacerbation, so the findings may not apply to stable outpatients. Data were collected during the first 3 days of admission, so the responses may reflect the current hospital event rather than usual behavior. The study was observational and measured variables at one time point, so it cannot show that knowledge or monitoring caused recognition or response. Symptom monitoring, symptom recognition, and symptom response were measured with selected items from the Self-Care of Heart Failure Index, not by scales designed specifically for each construct. The authors tested dropping one symptom response item, but the original 4-item scale was kept because fit did not improve.
Declared interests
The authors declared no conflicts of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that increasing heart failure knowledge alone will make patients recognize symptoms or take action. Knowledge was directly associated only with symptom monitoring, and the study cannot show cause.