Evaluation of method for patient education on a nurse-led heart failure clinic

In 1994, a nurse-led heart failure clinic was established in the Örebro University Hospital. The nurses’ education about the disease and treatment at the clinic is based on international guidelines for education of patients with chronic heart failure. The overall objective for all patient education is to provide information so that the patient can manage their condition, be safe, have control over and be able to live their lives. Therefore it is important that the education is based on the patient's needs, what the patient wants to know and to understand. In previous research, there is a method described in which the patient is asked to formulate their questions in writing before the visit as a supplement to the normal education practice. Patient education tailored to the patient's personal information needs can be a way to increase patient satisfaction with information and promoting the patient's experience of empowerment in the teaching situation.
The project aims to evaluate if addressing the heart failure patients own written questions in the education could individualize the education and increase patient satisfaction. Another aim is to describe the learning needs in patients with newly diagnosed heart failure.

The project includes a quasi-experimental study and a descriptive qualitative study. In the quasi-experimental study, the intervention group is invited to write their questions at home before the visit to the clinic. They will receive regular education from the nurses but also education addressing their written questions. The control group receives usual teaching. The descriptive qualitative study include the patient's written questions, which will be analyzed to find out what information the patients want at their first visit to the heart failure clinic. The project is carried out in cooperation between the Heart Failure Clinic, Örebro University Hospital, and the School of Health and Medical Sciences, Örebro University, Sweden.