Dataset Information

Heart Failure Home Management Challenges and Reasons for Readmission: a Qualitative Study to Understand the Patient's Perspective.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Heart failure patients have high 30-day hospital readmission rates. Interventions designed to prevent readmissions have had mixed success. Understanding heart failure home management through the patient's experience may reframe the readmission "problem" and, ultimately, inform alternative strategies.

Objective

To understand patient and caregiver challenges to heart failure home management and perceived reasons for readmission.

Design

Observational qualitative study.

Participants

Heart failure patients were recruited from two hospitals and included those who were hospitalized for heart failure at least twice within 30 days and those who had been recently discharged after their first heart failure admission.

Approach

Open-ended, semi-structured interviews. Conclusions vetted using focus groups.

Key results

Semi-structured interviews with 31 patients revealed a combination of physical and socio-emotional influences on patients' home heart failure management. Major themes identified were home management as a struggle between adherence and adaptation, and hospital readmission as a rational choice in response to distressing symptoms. Patients identified uncertainty regarding recommendations, caused by unclear instructions and temporal incongruence between behavior and symptom onset. This uncertainty impaired their competence in making routine management decisions, resulting in a cycle of limit testing and decreasing adherence. Patients reported experiencing hopelessness and frustration in response to perceiving a deteriorating functional status. This led some to a cycle of despair characterized by worsening adherence and negative emotions. As these cycles progressed and distressing symptoms worsened, patients viewed the hospital as the safest place for recovery and not a "negative" outcome.

Conclusion

Cycles of limit testing and despair represent important patient-centered struggles in managing heart failure. The resulting distress and fear make readmission a rational choice for patients rather than a negative outcome. Interventions (e.g., palliative care) that focus on methods to address these patient-centered factors should be further studied rather than methods to reduce hospital readmissions.

SUBMITTER: Sevilla-Cazes J

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6153210 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Publications

Heart Failure Home Management Challenges and Reasons for Readmission: a Qualitative Study to Understand the Patient's Perspective.

Sevilla-Cazes Jonathan J Ahmad Faraz S FS Bowles Kathryn H KH Jaskowiak Anne A Gallagher Tom T Goldberg Lee R LR Kangovi Shreya S Alexander Madeline M Riegel Barbara B Barg Frances K FK Kimmel Stephen E SE

Journal of general internal medicine 20180710 10

<h4>Background</h4>Heart failure patients have high 30-day hospital readmission rates. Interventions designed to prevent readmissions have had mixed success. Understanding heart failure home management through the patient's experience may reframe the readmission "problem" and, ultimately, inform alternative strategies.<h4>Objective</h4>To understand patient and caregiver challenges to heart failure home management and perceived reasons for readmission.<h4>Design</h4>Observational qualitative stu ...[more]

PMID: 29992429

Similar Datasets

Project description:BackgroundHeart failure (HF) affects many older individuals in North America, with recurrent hospitalizations despite postdischarge strategies to prevent readmission. Proper HF self-care can potentially lead to better clinical outcomes, yet many older patients find self-care challenging. Mobile health (mHealth) apps can provide support to patients with respect to HF self-care. However, many mHealth apps are not designed to consider potential patient barriers, such as literacy, numeracy, and cognitive impairment, leading to challenges for older patients. We previously demonstrated that a paper-based standardized diuretic decision support tool (SDDST) with daily weights and adjustment of diuretic dose led to improved self-care.ObjectiveThe aim of this study is to better understand the self-care challenges that older patients with HF and their informal care providers (CPs) face on a daily basis, leading to the conversion of the SDDST into a user-centered mHealth app.MethodsWe recruited 14 patients (male: 8/14, 57%) with a confirmed diagnosis of HF, aged ≥60 years, and 7 CPs from the HF clinic and the cardiology ward at the Hamilton General Hospital. Patients were categorized into 3 groups based on the self-care heart failure index: patients with adequate self-care, patients with inadequate self-care without a CP, or patients with inadequate self-care with a CP. We conducted semistructured interviews with patients and their CPs using persona-scenarios. Interviews were transcribed verbatim and analyzed for emerging themes using an inductive approach.ResultsSix themes were identified: usability of technology, communication, app customization, complexity of self-care, usefulness of HF-related information, and long-term use and cost. Many of the challenges patients and CPs reported involved their unfamiliarity with technology and the lack of incentive for its use. However, participants were supportive and more likely to actively use the HF app when informed of the intervention's inclusion of volunteer and nurse assistance.ConclusionsPatients with varying self-care adequacy levels were willing to use an mHealth app if it was simple in its functionality and user interface. To promote the adoption and usability of these tools, patients confirmed the need for researchers to engage with end users before developing an app. Findings from this study can be used to help inform the design of an mHealth app to ensure that it is adapted for the needs of older individuals with HF.

Project description:Exercise tolerance and cardiac output have a major impact on the quality of life (QOL) of patients experiencing heart failure (HF). Home-based cardiac rehabilitation can significantly improve not only exercise tolerance but also peak oxygen uptake ((Equation is included in full-text article.)peak), and the QOL in patients with HF. The aim of this prospective study was to evaluate the beneficial effects of home-based cardiac rehabilitation on the quality of medical care in patients with chronic HF.This study was a randomized prospective trial. HF patients with a left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) of less than 50% were included in this study. We randomly assigned patients to the control group (n?=?18) and the interventional group (n?=?19). Within the interventional group, we arranged individualized rehabilitation programs, including home-based cardiac rehabilitation, diet education, and management of daily activity over a 3-month period. Information such as general data, laboratory data, Cardiopulmonary Exercise Test (CPET) results, Six-minute Walk Test (6MWT) results, and the scores for the Minnesota Living with Heart Failure Questionnaire (MLHFQ) before and after the intervention, was collected from all patients in this study.Patients enrolled in the home-based cardiac rehabilitation programs displayed statistically significant improvement in (Equation is included in full-text article.)peak (18.2?±?4.1 vs 20.9?±?6.6?mL/kg/min, P?=?.02), maximal 6-Minute Walking Distance (6MWD) (421?±?90 vs 462?±?74?m, P?=?.03), anaerobic threshold (12.4?±?2.5 vs 13.4?±?2.6?mL/kg/min, P?=?.005), and QOL. In summary, patients receiving home-based cardiac rehabilitation experienced a 14.2% increase in (Equation is included in full-text article.)peak, a 37% increase in QOL score, and an improvement of 41?m on the 6MWD test. The 90-day readmission rate for patients reduced to 5% from 14% after receiving cardiac rehabilitation.Home-based cardiac rehabilitation offered the most improved results in functional capacity, QOL, and a reduced the rate of readmission within 90 days.

Project description:IntroductionAs individual interventions, home-based care and remote monitoring have been shown to help prevent hospitalizations for those with heart failure (HF) although both interventions have been limited by scalability and technical constraints, respectively. Few qualitative studies have explored patient perspectives, including acceptability, barriers, and facilitators of HF care inclusive of both interventions. The objective of this study is to explore patient perceptions on HF management at home, the use of home-based remote monitoring, and the value of home-based care.MethodsQualitative interviews (N = 27) were conducted via phone (12/2020-3/2021) with adults with HF. A framework analysis was used to identify main themes along with verbatim transcription for coding and analyses. There were 5 key interview domains: general HF knowledge, perceptions of the value of home-based care, unmet needs related to the social determinants of health (SDOH), experience with healthcare technology and remote monitoring, and challenges in HF home management.ResultsFive major themes emerged. Patients reported: (1) home-based care plan instructions are understood; (2) following medication, diet, and fluid management instructions are challenging due to difficult adherence to and implementation at home; (3) financial limitations serve as barriers to acquiring healthy food; (4) home-based support is a valuable component of managing medications, diet, and fluid; (5) despite limited use of technology, strong willingness to use remote monitoring is present amongst most.ConclusionsParticipants reported understanding of care plan instructions and challenges adhering to care plans at home. Barriers included needing more home-based support for medications, diet, and fluid management and requiring additional assistance with financial barriers related to unmet social needs. A combined intervention inclusive of remote monitoring and home-based support has potential to improve home-based strategies and clinical outcomes for HF patients.

Dataset Information

Heart Failure Home Management Challenges and Reasons for Readmission: a Qualitative Study to Understand the Patient's Perspective.

Background

Objective

Design

Participants

Approach

Key results

Conclusion

Publications

Heart Failure Home Management Challenges and Reasons for Readmission: a Qualitative Study to Understand the Patient's Perspective.

Similar Datasets

OmicsDI is part of the ELIXIR infrastructure

Tweets