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Evidence-Based Discharge Education Guidelines To Improve Adherence To Self-Care And Decrease 30-Day Readmissions For Older Heart Failure Patients, Lisette Melton

Doctor of Nursing Practice

Heart failure is a complex, debilitating, chronic disease characterized by high mortality and frequent hospital readmissions. Heart failure affects 5.7 million people in the United States with 670,000 new patients diagnosed each year. Patients are most vulnerable during the transition from the acute care setting to home. Limited patient knowledge on symptom recognition leads to detrimental outcomes for the patients; therefore, discharge education is paramount for decreasing readmissions. The national benchmark for 30-day readmission is 27%. The purpose of this quality improvement project was to improve compliance with the 2013 American Heart Association guidelines through discharge education by Telemetry staff …