By Kelly Brooks-Staub
Heart failure affects more than five million Americans, and the death toll is reaching epidemic proportions, particularly among African Americans, who experience higher rates of heart failure. “African Americans are more likely to be hospitalized-and more likely to die-from heart failure than other populations,” says associate professor Cheryl Dennison, PhD, RN, ANP, who has been awarded a research project grant (R21) of $451,000 from the National Institute of Nursing Research to study the issue.
Dennison will evaluate a nurse-led heart failure care transition intervention (HFCTI), which consists of medication and symptom self-management support, a personal heart failure care record, and the use of tele-health, the delivery of health-related services and information via telecommunications technologies.
Says Dennison: “It is our hope that this study will improve our understanding of methods to assist patients in their heart failure self-management efforts and consequently improve outcomes of heart.”