Improvement of Young and Elderly Patient's Knowledge of Heart Failure After an Educational Session

Jérôme Roncalli1,2, Laurence Perez1, Atul Pathak1,3, Laure Spinazze1, Sandrine Mazon1, Olivier Lairez1, Daniel Curnier2, Joëlle Fourcade1, Meyer Elbaz1, Didier Carrié1, Jacques Puel1,4, Jean-Marie Fauvel1 and Michel Galinier1,21Rangueil University Hospital, Department of Cardiology and Heart Failure Educational Centre (Centre d' Education pour Patient Insuffisant Cardiaque (CEPIC)), Toulouse, France. 2INSERM U858-I2MR, Hôpital de Rangueil, Toulouse, France. 3Service de Pharmacologie Clinique, Faculté de Médecine Toulouse, France. 4Deceased.AbstractBackground: Interest in the role of patient education sessions for optimizing the management of heart failure (HF) is increasing. We determined whether improvements in young and elderly patients' knowledge of HF and self-care behavior could be analyzed by administering a knowledge test before and after an educational session.Methods: Stable heart failure patients (n = 115) were enrolled in a prospective cohort study from our Heart Failure educational centre in a university hospital. Patient knowledge of six major HF-related topics was assessed via a questionnaire distributed once before an educational session and twice afterward. Each answer was assigned a numerical value and the final score for each topic could range from 0 to 20. Scores 15/20 were considered representative of a good level of knowledge.Results: The level of knowledge was low (9.7/20) before the educational session but was significantly higher (16.3/20) during the 1st quarter after the session, and this benefit was maintained for up to 12 months (16.6/20). Knowledge levels increased in both younger and elderly patients, and the number of patients who had a good level of knowledge also increased after the educational session.Conclusion: This study confirms that an HF knowledge test is feasible and that educational sessions improve the knowledge and self-management of both younger and elderly patients.