Authors
- Tanja Mikulandra — Klinički bolnički centar Osijek, Osijek, Hrvatska — ORCID: 0000-0003-2766-1653
- Nevenka Vila — Klinički bolnički centar Osijek, Osijek, Hrvatska — ORCID: 0000-0002-6169-3491
Keywords
education, nurse, heart failure
DOI
https://doi.org/10.15836/ccar2021.338Full Text
Introduction: Heart failure (HF) occurs as a result of any structural or functional heart disorder. HF is global health problem with prevalence of 1-2% in the general population and occurring in more than 1% to 2% of people over the age of 70. HF significantly affects the quality of life of patients, frequent hospitalizations and the adverse outcome of the disease. The aim of this study was to examine the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on hospitalization of patients with heart failure. Patients and Methods: The study involved 59 patients, 28 (47.5%) women and 31 (52.5%) men, who were treated at The Department of Heart and Blood Vessel Diseases, University Hospital Osijek from March 20 to June 1, 2020. The average age of the subjects was 60.9 years. For the research, we created a questionnaire witch contain 7 questions about demographic data, hospitalizations and knowledge about the heart failure. Results: According to the obtained results, 32 (54.2%) of subjects come from the city, 41 (69.5%) of subjects have a secondary qualification, and 50 (84.7%) live in a common household. Analysis of the data showed that at the time of the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, there were significantly more patients who were hospitalized for the first time due to HF 40 (67.8%) compared to the number of patients with HF who were hospitalized 3 or more times, 19 (32.2%). Conclusion: Educating patients about self-care and symptom control ( 1 ) during repeated hospitalizations can result in a decrease in the number of hospitalizations and an improvement in quality of life.