Content of Heart failure education by Health-care professionals in Noorder-Kempen, Belgium and Maastricht, the Netherlands: the INTERACT-in-HF study

INTERREG NWE IVb

Background

According to ESC-guidelines non-pharmacological interventions such as patient-education on lifestyle and self-care support are important to maintain quality of life (QOL) and to prevent (re)hospitalisation in Heart-Failure (HF). Additionally, these guidelines state that HF treatment should be organised in multidisciplinary programs. However, at this moment it remains unclear what kind of information and self-care support is provided by which health care (HC) professional in the regions Noorder-Kempen and Maastricht.

Purpose

The aim of this study is to describe which part of patient-education and self-care support is provided by different HC-providers in both regions

Methods

Semi-structured interviews with Cardiologists (CA), General Practitioners (GP’s) and Heart Failure Nurse (HFN) took place, followed by qualitative content analysis with a five-step approach, resulting in 2 main and 9 sub-themes.

Results

GP’s in both region express they spend very little time on life-style adjustments, symptom monitoring and self-care support.  GP’s in Noorder-Kempen spend most consultation time on physical follow-up and pharmacological treatment of HF-patients, leaving no or little time for non-pharmacological interventions. GP’s in Maastricht notice that non-pharmacological treatment is someone else"s responsibility e.g. practice nurses, HFN, CA.

All interviewed HC-professionals  inform patients considering their diagnosis. GP’s and CA in both regions educate patients considering pharmacological treatment and implanted devices. Moreover GP’s and CA in Noorder-Kempen emphasize the importance of compliance to therapy.  HFN in both regions offer comprehensive advice regarding lifestyle adjustments. HFN in Maastricht explicitly mention self-care support as an important part of their interventions.

Little regional differences could be found in the non-pharmacological interventions offered by the different HC professions involved in HF-management, however each profession has its own focus. GP’s and CA mainly focus on pharmacological and device therapy and therefore educate patients considering these aspects of HF-treatment. HFN mainly focus on lifestyle adjustments and self-care support.