Heart Failure Patients Aided By Nurse Care

Heart failure patients benefit when nurses help them restrict sodium, control fluids and weigh themselves daily, a Dutch study found.

Lead author Martje van der Wal, of the University of Groningen, The Netherlands, found greater involvement by the nurses — as well as help from dietitians, physiotherapists and social workers — had an even greater positive effect on patients daily weigh-ins — an important monitoring tool for this condition.

The 18-month trial looked at 1,023 heart failure patients and found 90 percent of support group patients adhered to both fluid guidelines and diet restrictions compared to 67 percent and 75 percent, respectively, in control groups. Eighty-nine percent of those in an intensive support group weighed themselves regularly compared to 56 percent of those in the control group.

We examined the effect of education and counseling by heart failure nurses on adherence to non-pharmacologic treatments because these are so important to the patients’ survival, Van der Wal said in a statement. Support from a heart failure nurse can help patients to cope with the difficult and complex regimen they have for their heart failure and to incorporate the regimen into their daily lives.

The findings were presented at the scientific sessions of the American Heart Association in Orlando, Fla.