Intervention
heart failure, illness
HEART FAILURE, HEART
Based on the international guidelines for the management of heart failure [The content of the final draft was developed as a mobile app program, named “Heart Failure-Smart Life”, with the cooperation of app development specialists. For comprehensive self-management and efficient communication between heart failure patients and healthcare providers, the Heart Failure-Smart Life installed the configurations and functions of educational materials using intuitive pictures and animations, daily health check-up diary (ie, blood pressure and body weight), Q & A, and 1:1 chat, based on the individual user’s convenience (Fig. Heart Failure-Smart Life screen features. The app consists of: In an initial 30-min meeting with the individual patients in the experimental group, a cardiac nurse installed the app of Heart Failure-Smart Life on the patient’s smartphone and explained how to use it appropriately. The nurse encouraged the patients to regularly record their daily health check-up diary, exercise and diet status, medication intake, and any appearance of worsening signs and symptoms on the app. This initial meeting took place in a private room of the cardiovascular outpatient clinic during the patient’s regular hospital visit schedule. After the initial meeting, the same nurse, who performed the patient’s initial meeting, performed regular checks every day for the patient’s record, gave active reminders and feedback on self-management, and communicated with each other via the Q & A and 1:1 chat functions on the app. If newly developed or exacerbated signs and symptoms appeared, an immediate outpatient or emergency room visit was recommended. It was continued for 3 months guided by three cardiac nurses who were trained according to the study protocol prior to the trial.Those in the control group were explained to continue their usual daily activities and were provided their usual care at the cardiovascular outpatient clinic. It consisted of meeting their cardiologist and cardiac nurse and receiving brief information about medications and the course of their illness, which remained unchanged during the study duration.