Educational needs of adults with congenital heart disease.

Adults with congenital heart disease represent a new and growing population of patients who pose a challenge to both medicine and nursing. The purpose of this study was to identify the educational needs of adults with congenital heart disease. The study used a prospective, cross-sectional, case-control study design and enrolled 124 adults with congenital heart disease and 124 matched healthy controls. Adults with congenital heart disease were more likely to report living at home with parents and less likely to be employed compared with healthy controls. When those adults with acyanotic and cyanotic congenital heart disease were compared, acyanotic adults were twice as likely to be employed. Additionally, several areas of educational needs were identified in this study for adults with congenital heart disease.