Knowledge expectations, self-care, and health complaints of heart failure patients scheduled for cardiac resynchronization therapy implantation.

PURPOSE: To describe what knowledge heart failure patients expect to acquire in relation to their upcoming cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) device implantation, to describe their self-care and health complaints, and to explore the relationship between knowledge expectations and self-care, health complaints, and background factors.

PATIENTS AND

METHODS

Cross-sectional multicenter study with 104 patients scheduled for a first-time, elective CRT implantation in Swedish and Icelandic hospitals. Data were collected with the Knowledge Expectations of hospital patient Scale, European Heart Failure Self-care Behavior Scale, and Adjusted Postoperative Recovery Profile.

RESULTS

Patients expected most knowledge related to their disease and its treatment (median 4.0, interquartile range 0.13) and least on social issues (median 3.5, interquartile range 0.83). Their self-care was average (standardized mean 51.0±19.6) before the procedure. Patients had on average 8.2 (±4.7) health complaints and rated fatigue and sexual problems as the most severe. Age was independently associated with knowledge expectations (Expβ 0.049, P=0.033).

CONCLUSION

Heart failure patients waiting for a CRT device implantation have high expectations for multiple aspects of knowledge, including self-care issues, before their procedure. These expectations are similar to those of other surgical patients and they increase with age.