Tools to Support Self-Care Monitoring at Home: Perspectives of Patients with Heart Failure.

Ina Thon Aamodt,Anna Strömberg,Tiny Jaarsma,Irene Lie,Ragnhild Hellesø

doi:10.3390/ijerph17238916

Abstract

Self-care monitoring at home can be a challenge for patients with heart failure (HF). Tools that leverage information and communication technology (ICT), comprise medical devices, or have written material may support their efforts at home. The aim of this study was to describe HF patients’ experiences and their prioritization of tools that support, or could support, self-care monitoring at home. A descriptive qualitative design employing semi-structured interviews was used with HF patients living at home and attending an HF outpatient clinic in Norway. We used a deductive analysis approach, using the concept of self-care monitoring with ICT tools, paper-based tools, medical devices, and tools to consult with healthcare professionals (HCPs) as the categorization matrix. Nineteen HF patients with a mean age of 64 years participated. ICT tools are used by individual participants to identify changes in their HF symptoms, but are not available by healthcare services. Paper-based tools, medical devices, and face-to-face consultation with healthcare professionals are traditional tools that are available and used by individual participants. HF patients use traditional and ICT tools to support recognizing, identifying, and responding to HF symptoms at home, suggesting that they could be used if they are available and supplemented by in-person consultation with HCPs.

Highlights

The home is the primary setting for patients diagnosed with heart failure (HF) to perform self-care monitoring
This study suggests that individuals living at home diagnosed with HF lack access to reliable information and communication technology (ICT)
HF patients in previous studies reported that a barrier to engaging in self-care at home is that care is fragmented; that is, consulting with different professionals each time at follow-ups who do not know them or their situation [36]

Summary

Introduction

The home is the primary setting for patients diagnosed with heart failure (HF) to perform self-care monitoring. Self-care monitoring is a decision-making process influenced by reflection where HF patients are encouraged to detect, interpret, and respond to bodily changes that may reflect deterioration of their condition at home [1,2]. Patients often struggle to distinguish HF-related symptoms and signs indicating a worsening condition from other symptoms related to a chronic HF disease state, comorbidities, or general aging-related changes. It is exactly this difficulty in sorting out these health challenges that can contribute to patients’ delay in seeking care [3]. Patients with HF may modify their activities and lifestyle to adapt to their current condition and, as a result, they might not recognize HF-related symptoms and signs indicative of a worsening HF condition [2].

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Discussion

Conclusion