Advanced Practice Nurse-managed Heart Failure Clinic Benefits Patient’s Quality of Life and Limits Readmissions

Background: Heart failure (HF) is the primary cause of hospitalizations and readmissions to a hospital within 30 days of initial discharge. In 2010 HF cost an estimated $39.2 billion in health care services, lost productivity and medications. Optimizing outpatient care is vital to effectively manage this patient population. Objective: The purpose of this paper is to describe and evaluate the effectiveness of an optimized outpatient HF clinic. Patient outcomes from a Midwestern community hospital were based on quality of life (QOL) and readmission rates. Methods: A retrospective chart audit was conducted on a random sample of patients enrolled in the Heart Failure Recovery Center (HFRC). The QOL outcomes were measured using the Minnesota Living with Heart Failure® Questionnaire. Results: Enrolled patients demonstrated improvement in their QOL in the emotional, physical, and overall scores across the first 6 months of care. In addition, there were significantly fewer 30-day all-cause readmissions when compared to non-Clinic patients. Conclusion: Utilization of an APN-managed multidisciplinary HF clinic improved patient’s QOL and contributed to one hospital’s decreased all-cause readmission rates for the HF population.