Congestive Heart Failure Study

Heart Failure (HF) occurs when the heart is unable to pump the necessary volume of blood to meet demands of tissue metabolism. This condition can be acute; it may have a fast onset or clinical change of signs and symptoms (Andrietta, Moreira, & Barros, 2011). The patient with heart failure presents with shortness of breath, cough, or difficulty breathing on activity. The patient often experiences acute exacerbation of symptoms resulting in hospitalization for medical management. Congestive Heart Failure (CHF) continues to be a major public health problem associated with high morbidity and mortality. There are 5 million people in the United States with heart failure and an estimated 400,000 to 550,000 new patients are diagnosed each year. Annual

Peer reviewed articles and studies will be challenged on the many positive outcomes of discharge teaching in patients with CHF. Key components required for patient with CHF self-management include following diet, activity, medication management, weight monitoring, signs and symptoms recognition for a worsening problem and follow up care. These self-management key components if managed appropriately by patients with CHF will improve clinical outcomes, reduce admissions and save hospitals costs (Todd M. Koelling,

In discharge instructions it is important for both the nurse and patient to rate information topics equally important to learn. In the “Patient education needs as reported by CHF patients and their nurses” article studies have found that nurses and patients differ in rating the importance of patient education topics. Generally, studies have found nurses value information about medication more than patients do. Patients and nurses may value different information and that patients may not believe it is realistic to learn all the information while hospitalized. Patients and nurses may believe information is important to know, both groups may doubt the ability of patients to learn all the important information in a particular time. (Hagenhoff, Feutz, & Moranville-Hunziker, M.