(P25) Impact of Heart-Failure Education on Healthcare Staff at Nursing Home

Objective/Aim: Approximately 20% of hospital discharges for heart failure (HF) in the United States result in an admission to a skilled nursing facility (SNF). Patients discharged to a SNF with HF are usually older, frailer, with more significant comorbidities with higher mortality risks than those who go home after hospitalization. 30-day re-hospitalization rates for HF from SNF range from 24% to 43%. A study suggested that Medicare spent $3.39 billion on potentially avoidable SNF hospitalizations. This project aimed to assess SNF staff's comfort and knowledge in treating HF patients before and after an educational intervention.

Design/Methodology: A pre-designed and pre-tested questionnaire analyzed healthcare staff's knowledge regarding HF. The questionnaire also included demographics such as role (CNA, LPN, RN, BSN), age, gender, time as a nurse, and time at SNF. Pre-tests were conducted in February 2021. The HF educational sessions (intervention) were provided to the SNF staff in March 2021. During the sessions, a pre-recorded video about HF education was played. A one-page summary of AMDA Clinical Program Guidelines for HF was also provided.
A post-test was conducted three months after the educational sessions in June 2021 to assess knowledge retention by SNF staff. All statistical analyses were performed in collaboration with the EVMS Healthcare Analytics and Delivery Science Institute (HADSI) using SAS version 9.4 (SAS Institute, Cary, NC). Descriptive statistics mean or median (interquartile), min, max, standard error, or frequency have been utilized to summarize the data. Kruskal-Wallis One-Way ANOVA on Ranks was conducted to assess the median difference of the scores in comfortable levels before and after the intervention.

Results: A brief educational intervention for healthcare staff improved their knowledge and confidence in caring for patients with HF. This type of intervention can be standardized across SNFs and help nurses better prepare and improve the quality of care they provide patients. Further studies are needed to evaluate the impact of HF education on patient outcomes at SNFs. A significant limitation of this intervention was decreased participation during the post-test due to the COVID pandemic, high staff turnover and meeting restrictions in the SNF. Patient outcomes were not collected as part of this QI project but would have been helpful indicators to track.

Conclusion/

Discussion: This study demonstrated that a short, standardized intervention may help improve the confidence and knowledge of HF for health care workers in SNFs.