Abstract
Heart failure (HF) is a life-limiting illness and presents as a gradual functional decline with intermittent episodes of acute deterioration and some recovery. In addition, HF often occurs in conjunction with other chronic diseases, resulting in complex comorbidities. Hospital readmissions for HF, including emergency department (ED) visits, are considered preventable. Majority of the patients with HF are often discharged early in the recovery period with inadequate self-care instructions. To address these issues, transitional care interventions have been implemented with the common objective of reducing the rate of hospital readmission, including ED visits. However, there is a lack of evidence regarding the benefits and adverse effects of transitional care interventions on clinical outcomes and patient-related outcomes of patients with HF. This integrative review aims to identify the components of transitional care interventions and the effectiveness of these interventions in improving health outcomes of patients with HF. Five databases were searched from January 2000 to December 2019, and 25 articles were included.
Highlights
Heart failure (HF) is a life-threatening syndrome in which the cardiac pump does not sufficiently maintain the blood flow to meet the body’s needs for oxygen and blood [1]
According to the European Society of Cardiology/American Heart Association guidelines, a multidisciplinary team approach and effective systems of care coordination with special attention to care transitions highlight the importance of preventing readmission or mortality of patients with HF after hospital discharge [41,42]
Despite the need to accurately identify patients’ problems and to develop tailored transitional care interventions when patients with HF are admitted to a hospital, early assessment of such patients for transition from hospital to home was presented in only five of the 25 studies [18,21,22,27,39]
Summary
Heart failure (HF) is a life-threatening syndrome in which the cardiac pump does not sufficiently maintain the blood flow to meet the body’s needs for oxygen and blood [1]. HF syndrome constitutes a major global health problem, affecting at least 26 million people worldwide [2,3]. The prevalence of HF will dramatically increase with an aging population. In the United States, there are currently 5.7 million cases of HF, with the projected annual incidence expected to exceed 8 million by 2030 [4]. The prevalence of patients with HF in Korea was estimated to be 1.53% in 2013 and is expected to increase 2.2-fold to 3.4% by 2040. Over 1.7 million Koreans are estimated to be affected by HF by 2040 [5]
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