Abstract

Aim: Quality of life (QOL) can be considered as a quality indicator of health care systems and nurses can play an important role to improve QOL in patients with congestive heart failure (CHF). The aim of this study was to determine the effects of education provided by nurses on the QOL in patients with CHF in home-visit care compared to usual care.

Method: In a single-blind randomized controlled trial conducted from September 2011 to June 2012, 110 patients with CHF were randomly assigned into two groups. While patients in group I were received usual education at the time of hospital discharge, patients in Group II, in addition to usual education, were received special education regards to their illness by nurses who visited patients in their homes. The 36-item short-form (SF-36) questionnaire was used to evaluate the patient’s QOL at the time of discharge and also six months after hospital discharge.

Results: At the time of hospital discharge, mean score of all 8 sub-score of SF-36 questionnaire was 63.4±7.8 in patients of group II and 61.1±6.4 in patients of group I, respectively (P> 0.05). QOL was decreased in group I and increased in group II compared to the time of hospital discharge. After six months, mean score of QOL was higher in group II than in group I.

Conclusions: QOL of patients with CHF were decreased after hospital discharge. Education provided by nurses in home-visit care could improve the QOL in patients with CHF, based on the findings of this study.

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