title: Therapeutic education unit for heart failure: setting-up and difficulties. Initial evaluation of the I-CARE programme.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Education programmes are required in chronic diseases. The insuffisance cardiaque : éducation thérapeutique (I-CARE) programme was developed in France to promote the setting-up of therapeutic education units for chronic heart failure.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate the setting-up of such units, assessing the influence of training on the creation and organization of the unit, the problems encountered and the contribution of the dedicated educational tools.
  
  
  METHODS
  We submitted a questionnaire to the first 136 trained centres. The questionnaire was divided into two sections: one section dealing with educational practices and the other with the advantages and disadvantages of the tools provided.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The participation rate reached 69.1%. Seventy-four centres (78.7%) declared themselves to be active in therapeutic education. Unit educational activities determined an educational diagnosis (89.2% of the centres) and provided education by means of collective workshops (73.0%) or one-to-one teaching sessions (75.7%). A complete education programme for a patient consisted of a median of four sessions (25th-75th percentile, 2-5 sessions) and lasted for a median of 6 h (25th-75th percentile, 4-10 h). The education team was multidisciplinary and usually included a nurse (93.2%), a dietician (78.4%), a cardiologist (71.6%) and a physiotherapist (40.5%). Heart failure educational tools were used only in part in most centres (89.2%). All advantages and disadvantages were recorded.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This first evaluation of the setting-up of therapeutic education units in the I-CARE programme has yielded promising results, despite expected difficulties. The effects of therapeutic education on the behaviour of heart failure patients remain to be determined.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiology, CHU de Nancy-Brabois, allée du Morvan, 54500 Vandoeuvre-les-Nancy, France. y.juilliere@chu-nancy.fr
authors.forename: Yves
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Juillière
authors.forename: Patrick
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Jourdain
authors.forename: Jérome
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Roncalli
authors.forename: Amélie
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Boireau
authors.forename: Hélène
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Guibert
authors.forename: Hélène
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Lambert
authors.forename: Laure
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Spinazze
authors.forename: Guillaume
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Jondeau
authors.forename: Pierre
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Sonnier
authors.forename: Céline
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Rouanne
authors.forename: Angélique
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bidet
authors.forename: Brigitte
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Sandrin-Berthon
authors.forename: Jean-Nöel
authors.initials: JN
authors.lastname: Trochu
mesh_terms: D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D016507:Cardiology Service, Hospital / Q000458:organization & administration; D002908:Chronic Disease; D005602:France; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006333:Heart Failure / Q000628:therapy*; D006801:Humans; D007400:Interprofessional Relations; D010348:Patient Care Team / Q000458:organization & administration; D010349:Patient Compliance; D010353:Patient Education as Topic; D011369:Professional-Patient Relations; D016730:Program Development; D015397:Program Evaluation; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013664:Teaching Materials; D016896:Treatment Outcome