In order to apply self-management training to patients, it is assumed that all members of a treatment team have a fundamental knowledge of the chronic condition they are attempting to control. This is rarely the case, however. Willette and coworkers pointed out that nurses are often the primary providers of education to patients with heart failure. Therefore, they wondered, what is the basic knowledge of patients who provide heart failure self-management treatment? The researchers surveyed 49 nurses who regularly provided care to patients with heart failure at a hospital in the southeastern United States. A 20-item, true/false survey was administered to participants. Mean heart failure self-management knowledge score was 15.97 (79.85% correct). Consistent with previous studies, nurses scored lowest on knowledge related to transient dizziness (16.3% answered correctly), daily weight monitoring (36.2% answered correctly), and asymptomatic hypotension (58.3% answered correctly).

VALUE OF STUDY TO READER. The authors concluded that their findings confirm previous work suggesting that nurses may not be adequately prepared to educate patients with heart failure about self-management. This is likely so. However, it is also true that many members of a team providing self-management training do not know all they should know either about a medical treatment or self-management for a given chronic condition. Thus, while nurses and behavioral scientists do not know as much as they should medically about a chronic condition, it is also true that health care personnel, particularly physicians, don’t always know as much as they should about patient training and the goals of self-management. There is need for everyone to be on the same page, including patients, if self-management skills are to be used to control a chronic condition.

EW Willette et al. Nurses' knowledge of heart failure self-management. Progress in Cardiovascular Nursing, 2007;22:190-195.