Assessment of the effect of patient's education and telephone follow up by nurse on readmissions of the patients with heart failure

This study has been done with the aim of assessing the effect of patient’s education and telephone follow up by nurse on readmissions of the patients with heart failure. In this experimental study that had been done in 2011, 189 heart failure patients hospitalized in ShahidRajayee cardiovascular hospital were selected by purposive sampling method and they were randomly divided into 3 control or intervention groups. The control group received only hospital routine care. The first intervention group received one hour face to face education and one educational researcher made booklet at the time of discharge. Second intervention group in addition to receiving one hour face to face education and educational booklet at the time of discharge, received telephone follow up by nurse for the next 3 months. Data collection tools included demographic questionnaire and readmission check lists. Data were analyzed by statistical tests and spss16 software. patient’s education during discharge and telephone follow up after discharge decrease readmission level significantly. After 3 months of follow-up there was significant difference respectively for hospital, clinical and doctor’s office readmissions (p=0.06), (p=000) (p=000) between groups. Patients’ rapid follow up after discharge can be suggested as away in order to decrease readmissions.