Differences in needs for community collaboration for heart failure between medical and nursing care staff.

Abstract

The increased numbers of older and frail patients with heart failure (HF) means there is an urgent need to establish regional collaborative systems for medical and nursing care. However, expectations related to collaborative HF care among medical and care staff remain unclear. We conducted a questionnaire survey with staff in hospitals, clinics, and nursing care facilities (NCFs) who had experienced collaboration through the common HF collaborative pathway in the western region of Tottori Prefecture, Japan, from July 2019 to July 2020. We received 150 responses from hospitals and 41 responses from clinics and NCFs. Following introduction of the collaborative pathway, 57% of respondents from hospitals, 35% from clinics, and 71% from NCFs rated collaboration as improved. Staff from hospitals and clinics were most satisfied with improved education interventions following implementation of the collaborative pathway, and NCF staff were most satisfied with improved information sharing. Staff from hospitals and NCFs placed the highest importance on improving information sharing through collaboration, and clinic staff placed the highest importance on improving efficiency. The needs for collaborative HF care differ between hospitals, clinics, and NCFs. A collaboration program should be designed to meet the different needs of diverse staff in the community.