Palliative Care Education to Heart Failure Patients

Purpose: This project aims to increase heart failure patients' knowledge of the benefits of palliative care for improved quality of life, advance understanding of the difference between palliative and hospice care, promote attendance at heart chat classes, and increase referrals to outpatient palliative care clinics. Methods: This quality improvement project used a one-group, descriptive, exploratory design with pre-and post-testing. The study was conducted on a cardiac unit at a large urban medical center, involving heart failure patients. A tailored educational pamphlet and heart chat class were provided to promote understanding and attendance, along with pre-and post-tests to measure changes in knowledge and perceptions. Results: Evaluating heart failure patients’ comprehension and perception of palliative care versus hospice care through pre-and post-testing showed a significant difference in knowledge. Of the ten participants, the pre-test median was 5.00 (mean 4.40, SD 1.51), while the post-test median was 5.50 (mean 5.50, SD 0.53), p=.026. Implementing a system-level change through a comprehensive educational pamphlet to promote palliative care referrals and attendance of heart chat classes resulted in mixed outcomes. The palliative heart chat class attendance significantly increased from 6 of 29 patients to 10 of 18, p = .01. However, the palliative care referral rate did not show a significant difference, decreasing from 7 of 29 patients to 2 of 18, p = .27. Conclusion: This project shows that an educational intervention significantly improved heart failure patients' understanding of palliative care, as evidenced by higher post-test scores. While the educational pamphlet and classes improved patient knowledge and attendance, additional measures may be necessary to influence referral rates.