The need of telephone management education for outpatients with chronic heart failure

This is a descriptive study that surveyed the needs of 106 patients with heart failure who visited the outpatient circulatory internal medicine department of "G" Hospital from May 1 to June 30, 2015. The need of outpatients was surveyed to develop a telephone management education program for outpatients with heart failure. To collect data, structured self-administered questionnaires were distributed to outpatients with chronic heart failure and then, collected immediately on the day of completion. According to study results, 64.2% of patients were willing to participate in telephone management education. In terms of educational content, symptom management (58.8%) was of greatest interest to patients, followed by medication (42.6%), nutrient management (38.2%), and clinic appointment (27.9%). The results of this study suggest that if a telephone management education program for patients with heart failure is developed and applied, it may be an effective intervention for them by promoting self-care performance.