Nutrition Education for Cardiac Patients An Interdisciplinary Approach

Abstract

LEARNING OUTCOME: To develop an organized means of providing discharge nutrition education for cardiac catheterization patients. Lack of an effective communication network on the in-patient floor serving cardiac patients led to patients being discharged without adequate nutrition education and heightened tensions between nursing and nutrition staff. The procedure in place at this time, involved nursing or the floor unit secretary paging the floor dietitian just prior to the patient's discharge time. This short notice often did not allow adequate time to instruct the patient properly, if at all, and interfered with other dietitian job responsibilities. Our goal was to develop a more organized means of delivering important nutrition information to cardiac patients while improving the quality of that education. At an interdisciplinary meeting among nursing and nutrition staff a new means of alerting the dietitian to cardiac patients needing discharge education was devised. A sign up sheet with morning and afternoon slots was prepared. Nursing agreed to list daily morning and afternoon discharges and the dietitians agreed to see patients on the list between 9 am and 10 am for morning discharges and between 2 p.m. and 3 p.m. for afternoon discharges. After seeing the patient, the dietitian crosses the patient name off the list so that nursing would know the patient has been instructed. A videotape was also made available on the patient television channel in the event that a dietitian was unavailable to provide instruction, which was often the case on weekends due to reduced staffing. A policy for the new procedure was written and distributed to nursing, the unit secretaries and to the dietitians. The discharge education materials for cardiac education were also revised. From May 1996 through January 1997 nursing listed 168 patients requiring discharge education. Ninety-three percent of these patients were seen by the dietitian for discharge instruction. In addition, a patient and nursing satisfaction survey was circulated. Of the responders, 100% were highly satisfied with the program.