Nurse practitioner-driven interprofessional heart failure education: A quality improvement project

Abstract

Heart failure is a worldwide clinical concern, which has increased the healthcare expenditures, downgraded patient’s quality of life, and contributed to a large number of deaths every year. HF is the most common cause of readmission for Medicare patients in the United States. The cost of HF readmissions and Emergency Room visits are potentially preventable. Effective HF education can decrease 30-day readmissions and promote early post-discharge follow-up adherence. The nurse practitioner (NP)-led HF quality (QI) initiative provided to HF patients a 60-minute education program based on the American Heart Association guidelines. This QI project incorporated interprofessional team support to the participants during 30 days of the timeframe in a large teaching hospital. The results revealed the positive outcomes for targeted project measures among participants. The organization continues the HF educational program on the cardiology units based on the success of the project.