title: The Effect of an Interprofessional Heart Failure Education Program on Hospital Readmissions.
abstract: Heart failure (HF) is an increasing concern to public health, affecting approximately 5.1 million Americans and costing the United States over $32 billion annually. Compounding the concern, research has exposed the significant problem of hospital readmissions for the HF population, with an estimated 25% of HF patients are rehospitalized within 30 days of discharge. This project focuses on an education-based strategy designed to decrease hospital readmissions for this at-risk population. In particular, an interprofessional outpatient educational program (Heart Failure University [HFU]) was initiated to reduce healthcare costs and increase the quality of care for HF patients at a large private hospital in Florida. A retrospective case-control study was conducted to compare 30-day hospital readmissions of patients who attended HFU to patients who received standard education. Results indicated a significant association between HFU attendance and reduced 30-day hospital readmissions (χ [1, N = 106] = 5.68, p = .02). Strengthening this effect, the results showed patients who attended HFU had a significantly greater functional disability than those who did not attend (t(104) = 2.40, p = .018). These findings corroborate with current research on transitional care interventions and emphasize the importance of interprofessional, educational-based disease management programs for the HF population.
authors.forename: Julia N
authors.initials: JN
authors.lastname: Clarkson
authors.forename: Susan D
authors.initials: SD
authors.lastname: Schaffer
authors.forename: Joshua J
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Clarkson
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D005260:Female; D005431:Florida; D006333:Heart Failure / Q000628:therapy*; D006801:Humans; D007400:Interprofessional Relations; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010351:Patient Discharge; D010353:Patient Education as Topic / Q000458:organization & administration*; D010359:Patient Readmission / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D014481:United States