TY - JOUR

T1 - Implementation of patient education for patients with atrial fibrillation

T2 - nationwide cross-sectional survey and one-year follow-up

AU - Qvist, Ina

AU - Lane, Deirdre A.

AU - Risom, Signe Stelling

AU - Hendriks, Jeroen M.

AU - Højen, Anette Arbjerg

AU - Johnsen, Søren Paaske

AU - Frost, Lars

N1 - © The Author(s) 2023. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the European Society of Cardiology. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

PY - 2024

Y1 - 2024

N2 - AimsClinical practice guidelines recommend patient education for patients with atrial fibrillation (AF) as a part of holistic care, however, clinical guidelines lack detailed specification on the content, structure, and delivery of AF education programmes. To examine the implementation of education for patients with AF in Denmark in relation to coverage, organization, and content.Methods and resultsA cross-sectional survey was conducted from February to May 2021. The survey contained questions on the organization, delivery, and content of education for patients with AF from all 29 AF outpatient hospital sites in Denmark. The survey was conducted by email and telephone. One-year follow-up was done in May 2022 by email. Patient education was provided by healthcare professionals in 16 (55%) hospitals. Nurse workforce issues, management, non-prioritization, and lack of guidance for implementation were reasons for the absence of patient education in 13 (45%) hospitals. The structure of patient education differed in relation to group or individual teaching methods and six different education models were used. Content of the AF disease education was generally similar. At 1-year follow-up, another four hospitals reported offering patient education (69% in total).ConclusionInitially, almost half of the hospitals did not provide patient education, but at 1-year follow-up, 69% of hospitals delivered patient education. Patient education was heterogeneous in relation to delivery, frequency, and duration. Future research should address individualized patient education that may demonstrate superiority in relation to quality of life, less hospital admissions, and increased longevity.

AB - AimsClinical practice guidelines recommend patient education for patients with atrial fibrillation (AF) as a part of holistic care, however, clinical guidelines lack detailed specification on the content, structure, and delivery of AF education programmes. To examine the implementation of education for patients with AF in Denmark in relation to coverage, organization, and content.Methods and resultsA cross-sectional survey was conducted from February to May 2021. The survey contained questions on the organization, delivery, and content of education for patients with AF from all 29 AF outpatient hospital sites in Denmark. The survey was conducted by email and telephone. One-year follow-up was done in May 2022 by email. Patient education was provided by healthcare professionals in 16 (55%) hospitals. Nurse workforce issues, management, non-prioritization, and lack of guidance for implementation were reasons for the absence of patient education in 13 (45%) hospitals. The structure of patient education differed in relation to group or individual teaching methods and six different education models were used. Content of the AF disease education was generally similar. At 1-year follow-up, another four hospitals reported offering patient education (69% in total).ConclusionInitially, almost half of the hospitals did not provide patient education, but at 1-year follow-up, 69% of hospitals delivered patient education. Patient education was heterogeneous in relation to delivery, frequency, and duration. Future research should address individualized patient education that may demonstrate superiority in relation to quality of life, less hospital admissions, and increased longevity.

U2 - 10.1093/eurjcn/zvad066

DO - 10.1093/eurjcn/zvad066

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 37490762

VL - 23

SP - 251

EP - 257

JO - European Journal of Cardiovascular Nursing

JF - European Journal of Cardiovascular Nursing

SN - 1474-5151

IS - 3

ER -