BackgroundPediatric heart failure poses life-long, burdensome symptoms for the healthcare system and families. Diagnosis and discharge are stressful and anxiety-provoking for caregivers. They face uncertainty about their child’s health and become responsible for administering complex care in the home. Little is known about this topic. Our study aimed to explore caregiver learning and experiences caring for a child with heart failure to design and implement a knowledge translation tool. MethodsQualitative description guided our study. Recruitment occurred in a tertiary cardiac centre in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Data collection and analysis occurred concurrently until data redundancy was achieved. Inductive conventional content analysis was used to develop categories. ResultsEleven interviews identified two main categories. One related to how traumatic life experiences impact learning (e.g., new diverse ways of learning, stress steepens the learning curve, learning heart failure takes time). The other relates to families’ new life reality after diagnosis (e.g., emotional distress and the new reality). ConclusionsThis study provides insight into caregivers’ learning needs and experiences caring for a child with heart failure. Caregivers describe how the trauma of having their child diagnosed with heart failure negatively and the negative impacts it has on their learning and ways of life going forth. Knowledge about caregiver learning experiences and preferences for digital platforms are also highlighted. This knowledge will inform an online tool for caregiver audiences that empowers caregivers to make improved decisions in managing their child’s heart failure while enhancing the means for improved clinical education in this context.