Comparison of patient education and follow up by nurse on anxiety in heart failure patients

Background and Objective: After-discharge follow-up care is one of the most important strategies to help patients with heart failure to prevent worsening of the disease. This study aimed to compare the patient education and follow-up by nurse on anxiety in patients with heart failure referred to Rajaei cardiovascular center, Tehran, Iran. Materials and Method: In this clinical trial study, 189 patients with heart failure were selected using purposive sampling method and randomly divided into 3 groups in 2012. The control group received only hospital routine care. The first intervention group received one hour of discharge education and one educational booklet at the time of discharge and second intervention group received telephone followed-up by nurse 3 months after discharge in addition of receiving one hour discharge education and educational booklet at the time of discharge. Data collection tools included Beck anxiety and a researcher-made demographic questionnaire. Data were analyzed using chi-square and one-way ANOVA tests via SPSS18 software. Results: The means of anxiety scores were 21.9 ± 11.5 and 11.0 ± 7.6, 19.2 ± 9.7 and 19.6 ± 9.2, and 18.9 ± 6.9 and 18.7 ± 11.7 before and after the intervention in first and second intervention and control groups, respectively. Before the intervention, there was no significant between means of anxiety scores in 3 groups (P = 0.168) but after the intervention, this difference was significant (P < 0.001). Conclusion: After 3 months of telephone follow-up by nurse, there was a significant reduction in patients’ anxiety scores. So, this kind of cost-effective follow-up intervention after discharge can reduce anxiety in patient with heart failure.