Date of Graduation

2016

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Type

DNP

College

School of Nursing

Department

Adult Health

Committee Chair

Marilyn E Smith

Committee Co-Chair

Teresa Ritchie

Committee Member

Mark A Studeny

Abstract

Heart failure is a constellation of signs and symptoms reflecting a physiologic change in the hearts ability to keep up with demand. Heart failure is considered a global pandemic and is a complex disease that oftentimes is progressive. Heart failure is often associated with underlying coronary atherosclerosis, and its associated risks, including hypertension, diabetes mellitus, metabolic syndrome and dyslipidemia. To slow the progression and improve quality of life patients should be educated about the disease and in most health care settings nurses provide this education. However, nurses may lack sufficient knowledge of the processes that lead to heart failure. The purpose of this study was to determine the level of understanding nurses possess regarding heart failure, and whether additional evidence-based education regarding heart failure, sufficiently improves the nurses' knowledge of heart failure. A pre/posttest design using a convenience sample of nurses at Marshall Health was used in this study. All nurses at Marshall Health cardiology and internal medicine were included without exclusion of hours worked or nursing degree. By using Rogers Diffusion of Innovations theory, nurses received heart failure education consisting of a video approximately 60 minutes long created by Qualidigm. Participants took a pretest just prior to the education video and one month later a posttest. The results showed that heart failure knowledge did increase from pre to posttest, however it was not significant (p= 0.277).

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