Persistent effect of nurse-led education on self-care behavior and disease knowledge in heart failure patients.
Astrid Huesken, Rainer Hoffmann, Sofien Ayed
PMID 33997129WHAT IT FOUND
Heart failure patients who had a one-hour nurse-led education session self-reported more agreement with disease knowledge and self-care statements one day later, and scores remained better at 6-month follow-up.
Key findings
01Before education, patients had only moderate disease knowledge and self-care behavior: disease knowledge total 18.0 ± 5.4 and EHFScB-9 total 24.3 ± 7.0.
02One day after the nurse-led session, total scores for disease knowledge, self-care behavior, and all questions were significantly lower than before (P < 0.001), indicating more agreement with the statements.
03At 6-month follow-up, 67% of patients responded and the mean score of all 15 questions remained low.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
There was no randomisation and no comparison group without education, so the study cannot show that the nurse-led session caused the score changes or reduced hospitalization or death. Patients with neurocognitive deficits were excluded, so the results do not apply to all heart failure patients. Only 67% of patients answered the 6-month questionnaire, which may bias the estimate of how long the effect persisted. The six disease-knowledge questions were not evaluated for reliability and validity, and answers may reflect subjective self-assessment rather than objective knowledge. The self-care score may reflect improved knowledge of what should be done rather than actual behavior. The study was single-centre and included a limited number of patients.
Declared interests
The study was supported by a grant from the German Foundation for the Chronically Ill. The authors declared no conflicts of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that nurse-led education reduced heart failure hospitalization or death. The study had no control group, and the total score immediately after education did not significantly differ between patients with and without a clinical event at follow-up (27.3 ± 14.2 vs. 23.1 ± 13.6).