Journal of Cardiovascular Nursing 

About: Journal of Cardiovascular Nursing is an academic journal published by Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. The journal publishes majorly in the area(s): Population & Medicine. It has an ISSN identifier of 0889-4655. Over the lifetime, 2046 publications have been published receiving 45713 citations. The journal is also known as: The Journal of cardiovascular nursing.

A report from the American Heart Association Council on Cardiovascular and Stroke Nursing.

Abstract: The purpose of this feature is to highlight the contributions and the expertise of the members of the American Heart Association’s Council on Cardiovascular and StrokeNursing.Anurse-led scientific statement was recently published in Circulation; this state-of-science manuscript was authored by Albert et al. Dr Albert and her colleagues are representatives of the Council on Cardiovascular and Stroke Nursing. This is a brief review of the manuscript describing the state-of-science related to transitions of care in heart failure (HF). Hospitalization rates for patients with HF have remained stagnant over the past decade, with the current 30-day rehospitalization rate forHFholding steady at 24.7%. Heart failure providers in both the inpatient and outpatient settings have recognized the urgent need for an organized transition of care to improve patient-centered and health systems outcomes. The complexity of HFmanagement burdens the patient, the provider, and the healthcare system. This state-of-the-science manuscript seeks to describe the specific evidence based interventions, tools, programs, andrecommendations that have had an impact on the transition of care in patients with HF. Within the structure of the Affordable Care Act, hospitals that have high 30-day readmission rates are penalized. Identifying modifiable factors that predict and contribute to HF readmission rates has become the standard operating milieu for hospital staff, and regulatory compliance is a fiscal responsibility for hospital administrators. There have been a multitude of interventions identified as having a significant impact on readmission rates. These interventions include individualized patient education, telephone follow-up, medication reconciliation, early assessment postdischarge, inclusion of caregivers, home visits, and a transition of care report to the primary care provider once the patient is discharged. Those patients at highest risk for readmission, the elderly, those with multiple hospitalizations for HF in the previous 6 months, and those with longer length of stays are being targeted to identify high-risk characteristics amenable to individualized or bundled interventions for smooth transition of care.

An update on the self-care of heart failure index.

Abstract: Background The Self-care of Heart Failure Index (SCHFI) is a measure of self-care defined as a naturalistic decision-making process involving the choice of behaviors that maintain physiological stability (maintenance) and the response to symptoms when they occur (management). In the 5 years since the SCHFI was published, we have added items, refined the response format of the maintenance scale and the SCHFI scoring procedure, and modified our advice about how to use the scores. Objective The objective of this article was to update users on these changes. Methods In this article, we address 8 specific questions about reliability, item difficulty, frequency of administration, learning effects, social desirability, validity, judgments of self-care adequacy, clinically relevant change, and comparability of the various versions. Results The addition of items to the self-care maintenance scale did not significantly change the coefficient alpha, providing evidence that the structure of the instrument is more powerful than the individual items. No learning effect is associated with repeated administration. Social desirability is minimal. More evidence is provided of the validity of the SCHFI. A score of 70 or greater can be used as the cut-point to judge self-care adequacy, although evidence is provided that benefit occurs at even lower levels of self-care. A change in a scale score more than one-half of an SD is considered clinically relevant. Because of the standardized scores, results obtained with prior versions can be compared with those from later versions. Conclusion The SCHFI v.6 is ready to be used by investigators. By publication in this format, we are putting the instrument in the public domain; permission is not required to use the SCHFI.

American Heart Association Council on Cardiovascular and Stroke Nursing.

Abstract: The purpose of this column was to showcase the accomplishments of the Council on Cardiovascular and Stroke Nursing (CVSN) and the American Heart Association (AHA), to highlight the activities of the CVSN Council, and to serve as a vehicle to recruit new members for theCVSNCouncil.We welcome any input that you may have to this column by e-mailing the corresponding author. The CVSN’s contribution to this issue will explain the process for becoming a fellow of the AHA and highlight an AHA initiative to improve care for patients with atrial fibrillation (AF). This initiative is the AHA Get With The GuidelinesY Atrial Fibrillation (GWTG-AFIB) program. Dr Pamela McCabe, a CVSN Council member, is a member of the GWTG-AFIB clinical work group. Dr McCabe, in collaboration with Kristen Wade, MPH, program manager of the GWTGAFIB, and Louise Morgan, MSN, national director of the GWTG program, describes the background of the GWTG program, the impetus for the GWTG-AFIB program, and the processes of developing the measures and data collection tool that will be used to evaluate the participating institutions’ compliance with practice guidelines.

A situation-specific theory of heart failure self-care.

Abstract: Heart failure, a common syndrome in developed countries worldwide, is associated with poor quality of life, frequent rehospitalizations, and early death. Self-care is essential to improving outcomes in this patient population. The purpose of this article is to describe a situation-specific theory of heart failure self-care in which self-care is defined as a naturalistic decision-making process involving the choice of behaviors that maintain physiologic stability (maintenance) and the response to symptoms when they occur (management). Self-care maintenance is further defined to encompass routine symptom monitoring and treatment adherence. Self-care management is characterized as a process initiated by symptom recognition and evaluation, which stimulates the use of self-care treatments and treatment evaluation. Confidence in self-care is thought to moderate and/or mediate the effect of self-care on various outcomes. Four propositions were derived from the self-care of heart failure conceptual model: (1) symptom recognition is the key to successful self-care management; (2) self-care is better in patients with more knowledge, skill, experience, and compatible values; (3) confidence moderates the relationship between self-care and outcomes; and (4) confidence mediates the relationship between self-care and outcomes. These propositions were tested and supported using data obtained in previous research. Support of these propositions provides early evidence for this situation-specific theory of heart failure self-care.