Abstract
Approximately one quarter of all Medicare beneficiaries hospitalized for heart failure (HF) are discharged to long-term care (LTC) for skilled nursing care, and, of those, 25% are readmitted to the hospital within 30 days. We implemented a 3-month pilot quality improvement project using a pre-post design that included an educational intervention for certified nursing assistants (CNAs) conducted by a nurse practitioner (NP). The three aims of the project were to: (1) improve CNAs' knowledge of heart failure (HF) management strategies; (2) improve CNAs' reporting of acute changes in the condition of residents with HF; and (3) reduce rehospitalizations of the facility's skilled unit residents with HF. The percentage of HF resident 30-day hospital readmission rates fell 7.8% during the project's 3-month implementation period. The results of this project support future NP-led clinical education for CNAs working in this facility.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 27-34 |
| Number of pages | 8 |
| Journal | Annals of Long-Term Care |
| Volume | 24 |
| Issue number | 5 |
| State | Published - May 2016 |
Keywords
- CNA
- Certified nursing assistant
- Education
- Heart failure
- Nurse practitioner
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Gerontology
- Geriatrics and Gerontology