Purpose: To determine whether a nurse-led care model with telemonitoring in primary care for patients with stable heart failure and their caregivers is feasible and acceptable.
Patients and methods: A mixed-methods feasibility study was conducted. Patients with stable heart failure and their caregivers were consecutively enrolled from March 2021 to April 2022. Participants were managed by nurses in a community health center through education and monitoring with a mobile app. The outcomes were feasibility outcomes, self-care outcomes, and qualitative acceptability and satisfaction. Quantitative and qualitative outcomes were linked to understanding how the model of care might benefit patients.
Results: Twenty-six patients and nine of their caregivers were enrolled. Ten participants used the mobile app. Nineteen patients and eight caregivers were interviewed. Participants who improved their self-care appreciated the help in finding coping strategies, being close to the clinic, and feeling cared for. Participants with fewer improvements in self-care perceived the model of care as useless and were far from the centre. Participants decided to use the app mainly for usefulness prevision, and most of them were satisfied.
Conclusion: The model of care was not successful in recruiting patients, and adjustments are needed to improve the recruitment strategy and to engage people who perceive the model of care as not useful or unable to use the app.
Keywords: cardiology; general practice; heart failure; nursing; primary care.
© 2023 Longhini et al.