Addressing Disparities in Nurses’ Understanding of Congestive Heart Failure

Congestive heart failure (CHF) continues to affect millions of people a year and remains one of the leading causes of re-hospitalization in the US. Within the Central San Joaquin Valley (CSJV) the incidence of CHF remains significantly higher than the rest of California. In order to ensure appropriate patient care and outcomes registered nurses (RNs) must have a thorough and full understanding of the disease process and its associated symptomatology. This study aimed to find if the implementation of an interactive multimedia educational program focusing on all aspects of CHF could improve RNs education and understanding of CHF. It is crucial that RNs taking care of patients at the bedside are comfortable in both identifying and treating as well as performing patient education on CHF. The study aimed at finding if an interactive multimedia educational program focusing on the application of didactic material in an interactive case study could effectively improve RN understanding of CHF. If effective RNs caring for patients with CHF will be able to better provide patient care and education resulting in improved patient outcomes, self-care, and quality of life