Effectiveness of continuous‐care model on self‐care in patients with heart failure: application of line follow‐up

BACKGROUND: Self-care behaviours are one of the most important determinant factors in the prognosis of heart failure, which can improve the symptoms of the disease, the performance and the reduction of mortality in these patients. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to determine the effectiveness of continuous-care pattern on self-care in heart failure patients admitted to Shahid Chamran Hospital in Isfahan. METHODS: This quasi-experimental study is implemented on 72 patients with heart failure who are admitted to Shahid Chamran Hospital in Isfahan. The patients are randomly assigned to the experimental and control groups (36 patients in each group). For a period of three months, a continuous-care model is performed, and then, the self-care score of patients with heart failure is compared in both groups at baseline and follow-up assessment. The required data were gathered using a demographic questionnaire and a European Heart Failure Self-Care Behavior (EHFSCB). RESULTS: Regarding the implementation of the continuous-care model, the results showed that the mean self-care score before the implementation of the continuous-care model was 28.2 ± 5.02 in the experimental group and 29.5 ± 3.7 in the control group, which was not statistically significant (p = 0.22). However, after implementing continuous-care model, the mean self-care score of the experimental group was 51.4.4 ± 2.8 as compared to the control group (30.8 ± 3.2) (p < 0.001). CONCLUSION: Based on the findings of this study, it can be concluded that the implementation of this care model can lead to an increase in self-care score in patients with chronic heart failure.