Distractions When Viewing In-hospital Heart Failure Self-Care Videos and Change in Heart Failure Self-Care Knowledge

Abstract

Introduction When viewing in-hospital HF education videos, internal (pain, nausea, fatigue, dyspnea) and external (alarms, ringing phone, caregiver or family interruptions, hallway noise) distractions could interfere with attentiveness and decrease patients’ understanding of educational content. Purpose To examine if optimization of learning is dependent on attentiveness, defined as the frequency of internal and external distractions when viewing video education. Methods This exploratory, prospective, single cohort study was conducted on 3 medical-surgical units comprising 42 beds at a small community hospital. Learning optimization was assessed by comparing pre- and post-video assessment scores of HF knowledge of self-care behaviors using a valid, reliable tool that was not based on content in the videos. Nurses recorded distractions during video viewing. Post-viewing, the HF knowledge assessment was repeated. Patient characteristics were retrieved from a hospital database. Demographics and change in knowledge scores were compared overall and by distraction groups using comparative statistics. Findings Among 60 participants, mean age was 73.9 ± 11.2 years and 50% were female. There was no difference in distractions (overall, internal or external) by patient characteristics. Pre and post video education, HF standardized knowledge scores were 72.5 ± 10.7 and 77.7 ± 10.5 respectively, p Conclusion In-hospital video education was associated with higher HF knowledge scores despite internal (primarily fatigue) or external (primarily nursing caregiver interruption) distractions and may promote self-care behaviors post-discharge.