Patient Education

Patient Education for the Healthcare Team and the Patient

Patient Readiness - Based on Stages of Change

Assessment tools/readiness to change

Case Management Society of America (CMSA)

The Case Management Society of America (CMSA) has several programs that can help the healthcare team assess the patient’s adherence to medications and help patients with chronic diseases make lifestyle changes.

Visit www.cmsa.org for information on these programs.

Adherence Starts with Knowledge (ASK ®) program which is a survey-based program designed to identify barriers to medication adherence and links to appropriate education materials.

Essentials Connections is a web based resource to help the healthcare team communicate with and provide the patient with self care tools that can aid them in making lifestyle changes that are necessary with chronic diseases.

Evaluation Strategies & Tools

The American Heart Association’s Get With The GuidelinesSM (GWTG)
Impact: AHA "Get With The Guidelines" - americanheart.newmediagateway.com

In 2001 The American Heart Association (AHA) launched their Get With The GuidelinesSM (GWTG) hospital based quality improvement program which is geared to helping hospitals be sure that the care they provide for patients with coronary artery disease, stroke, and heart failure is aligned with evidence based treatments and therapies.

Visit the AHA website to register for the program and/or view helpful educational resources and patient management tools.

Patient Education Materials

Explanation of heart failure & Prognosis: ACP's "Understanding and Living with Heart Failure"

American College of Physicians (ACP): Special Reports

ACP's Special Reports provides information that can help patients understand treatment and management of their disease. View the site for downloadable patient brochures, articles and video news reports.

View ACP’s Special Report

Heart Failure Society of America (HFSA)- - www.hfsa.org

Self-Management and Behavioral Change Strategies

The HFSA offers printable patient education materials around the following subject areas:

• Taking Control of Your Heart Failure
• How to Follow a Low-Sodium Diet
• Heart Failure Medicines
• Self-care: Following Your Treatment Plan and Dealing with Your Symptoms
• Exercise and Activity
• Managing Feelings About Heart Failure
• Lifestyle Changes: Managing Other Chronic Conditions
• Advance Care Planning
• Heart Rhythm Problems
• How to Evaluate Claims of New Heart Failure Treatments and Cures
• Smoking cessation - 1.800.QUITNOW

Sutter Medical Center

Sutter Medical Center in Sacramento, California provides printable tools for patients to help them understand and manage their condition. The Heart Failure Management tool is available as a downloadable PDF. This tools is meant to be used by the patient to track their symptoms after discharge and alerts them as to when their symptoms are under control, when they should contact their physician, and when they may have a medical emergency and should be evaluated by a physician right away.

View the Sutter Medical Center Heart Failure Management Tool

Medications

Medication Education in Heart Failure Patients Reference Guide

This reference guide is an outline of key educational principles and educational tools for hospitalists and clinicians to use when preparing the patient for discharge.

Developed by the SHM Heart Failure Initiative Polypharmacy Workgroup.

View the Medication Education Reference Guide.

Drugs, dosing and side effects

Anticoagulant Toolkit

Reducing Adverse Drug Events & Potential Adverse Drug Events with Unfractionated Heparin, Low Molecular Weight Heparins and Warfarin. This toolkit developed by Purdue University PharmaTAP in collaboration with the Indiana Patient Safety Center (IPSC), Indiana Hospital Association (IHA) and VHA Central. The toolkit is designed to help hospitals meet the joint commission national public safety goal to reduce patient harm associated with anticoagulant therapy.

View the Anticoagulant Toolkit

The American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP) has developed safemedications.com to provide patients and care providers information on over 800 drugs. Visit the site for information and resources on how to provide better patient care.

The American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP) Medteach Version 4 patient drug information software is a program is designed to allow you to create monographs for your patients to provide them with drug information that can be customized to include patient specific information such as administration comments, physician's name and address, and pharmacy information.

Medteach Version 4 - www.ashp.org

The Heart Failure Society of America (HFSA)offers printable materials for patients oncoping with a complicated regimen and polypharmacy interactions.

This resource from AHRQ was developed through one of AHRQ's Partnership for Implementing Patient Safety (PIPS). The guide is in PDF format and can be printed and given to the patient or caregiver to help them gain an understanding of Coumadin®/Warfarin Therapy. The patient or caregiver can read what Coumadin®/Warfarin is, how to use it, dietary needs while taking the medication and special circumstances.

View the AHRQ Guide to Coumadin®/Warfarin Therapy

Sutter Medical Center

Sutter Medical Center in Sacramento, California provides printable tools for patients to help them understand and manage their condition. The Heart Failure Medications-How they work tool is a downloadable reference guide that will educate the patient about their medications. Specifically the drug class, common name, where the drug works, and how it works.

View the Sutter Medical Center Heart Failure Medications Reference Guide

Core Measure Discharge Instructions

Discharge Instructions FAQs - www.coreoptions.com/new_site/jcahocore.html
AHA "Get With The Guidelines: HF" - americanheart.newmediagateway.com
Core Measures Fact Sheet- CMS Quality Initiatives - www.logicare.com/LOGICAREandCoreMeasures.pdf

Other Websites for Patient Education Materials

Congestive Heart Failure Tutorial

Medline Plus provides a tutorial on heart failure for patients through a tutorial presentation with questions, a tutorial presentation without questions, and a text version. Visit Medline Plus
- 
Heart Failure: Learning and Living

The American Heart Association’s (AHA) Heart Failure: Learning and Living site provides patients with information on the disease, diet, lifestyle changes, treatments, working with their doctor, and a caregiver’s guide.

Heart Failure Online
Available in English and Spanish, this website will provide information for patients such as the anatomy of the heart, what heart failure is, prevention, treatment, and medication information. 
www.heartfailure.org

American Academy of Family Physicians
www.familydoctor.org

The FamilyDoctor.Org has a section of their site dedicated to Heart Failure and it includes information for patients on the basics, reducing the risk, treatments (drugs & devices), and recovery.

Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy Association™

The Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy Association provides information, support, and advocacy to patients and their families and medical providers- http://www.4hcm.org/WCMS/index.php?index