Therapeutic education unit for heart failure: setting-up and difficulties. Initial evaluation of the I-CARE programme.
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.
Juillière
Yves
Y
Department of Cardiology, CHU de Nancy-Brabois, allée du Morvan, 54500 Vandoeuvre-les-Nancy, France. y.juilliere@chu-nancy.fr
Jourdain
Patrick
P
Roncalli
Jérome
J
Boireau
Amélie
A
Guibert
Hélène
H
Lambert
Hélène
H
Spinazze
Laure
L
Jondeau
Guillaume
G
Sonnier
Pierre
P
Rouanne
Céline
C
Bidet
Angélique
A
Sandrin-Berthon
Brigitte
B
Trochu
Jean-Nöel
JN
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