Is “Teach-Back” Associated With Knowledge Retention and Hospital Readmission in Hospitalized Heart Failure Patients?
- 1 March 2013
- journal article
- Published by Ovid Technologies (Wolters Kluwer Health) in Journal of Cardiovascular Nursing
- Vol. 28 (2), 137-146
- https://doi.org/10.1097/jcn.0b013e31824987bd
Abstract
Heart failure (HF) is a chronic and costly condition that affects approximately 5.8 million people in the United States, with an additional 670,000 diagnosed yearly. With high 30-day hospital readmission rates, the importance of determining effective means of preventing readmissions is imperative. Despite published guidelines emphasizing the importance of education in preventing readmissions, the most effective means of educating hospitalized patients with HF about their self-care remains unknown. The aim of this study was to determine if hospitalized HF patients educated with the teach-back method retain self-care educational information and whether it is associated with fewer hospital readmissions. A prospective cohort study design included 276 patients older than 65 years hospitalized with HF over a 13-month period. Patients were educated and evaluated using the teach-back method as part of usual care. Data on ability to recall educational information while hospitalized and during follow-up approximately 7 days after hospital discharge were collected. Readmissions were confirmed through follow-up telephone calls and review of medical records. Patients correctly answered 3 of 4, or 75%, of self-care teach-back questions 84.4% of the time while hospitalized and 77.1% of the time during follow-up telephone call. Greater time spent teaching was significantly associated with correctly answered questions (P < .001). Patients who answered teach-back questions correctly while hospitalized and during follow-up had nonsignificant (P = .775 and .609) reductions in all-cause 30-day hospital readmission rates, but a trend toward significance (P = .15) was found in patients who had readmissions for HF. The teach-back method is an effective method used to educate and assess learning. Patients educated longer retained significantly more information than did patients with briefer teaching. Correctly answered HF-specific teach-back questions were not associated with reductions in 30-day hospital readmission rates. Future studies that include patients randomized to receive usual care or teach-back education to compare readmissions and knowledge acquisition would provide further comparison of teach-back effectiveness.Keywords
This publication has 10 references indexed in Scilit:
- ACCF/AHA/ACP/HFSA/ISHLT 2010 Clinical Competence Statement on Management of Patients With Advanced Heart Failure and Cardiac Transplant: A Report of the ACCF/AHA/ACP Task Force on Clinical Competence and TrainingJournal of the American College of Cardiology, 2010
- Recent National Trends in Readmission Rates After Heart Failure HospitalizationCirculation: Heart Failure, 2010
- Using the Teach-Back and Orem's Self-Care Deficit Nursing Theory to Increase Childhood Immunization Communication Among Low-Income MothersIssues in Comprehensive Pediatric Nursing, 2008
- Benefits of Comprehensive Inpatient Education and Discharge Planning Combined With Outpatient Support in Elderly Patients With Congestive Heart FailureCongestive Heart Failure, 2005
- Discharge Education Improves Clinical Outcomes in Patients With Chronic Heart FailureCirculation, 2005
- Interventions to Improve Research Participants' Understanding in Informed Consent for ResearchPublished by American Medical Association (AMA) ,2004
- Decompensated heart failure: symptoms, patterns of onset, and contributing factorsAmerican Journal Of Medicine, 2003
- Closing the LoopArchives of Internal Medicine, 2003
- Factors Influencing Knowledge of and Adherence to Self-care Among Patients With Heart FailureArchives of Internal Medicine, 1999
- A Multidisciplinary Intervention to Prevent the Readmission of Elderly Patients with Congestive Heart FailureThe New England Journal of Medicine, 1995