Heart Failure implementation work commended at international nursing conference
GM CLAHRC’s work on improving care for people with heart failure was shared with healthcare experts in Europe recently.
Their work featured at this year’s Spring Meeting of the Council of Cardiovascular Nursing and Allied Professionals of the European Society of Cardiology, held in Copenhagen, and received a commendable ‘featured abstract’ rating from the congress programme committee.
At the conference, which was attended by 650 delegates from 34 countries, GM CLAHRC’s implementation team showed off their innovative ideas which have already been successfully implemented in Greater Manchester to help patients with cardiovascular conditions.
Mike Spence, Knowledge Transfer Associate, was awarded a ‘featured abstract’ for his poster which looks at the development of a website that provides a one-stop shop for local heart failure patients, carers and service providers. The Manchester Heart Failure Website went live in September 2010 and has been well received by patients and practitioners alike, helping to develop new relationships and collaborations.
Lorraine Burey, Improvement Manager, presented a poster about the Heart Failure Alert Card project with Margo Megahed and Carolyne Feldman, both Heart Failure Specialist Nurses (HFSN) from the University Hospitals of South Manchester NHS Foundation Trust. The Heart Failure Alert Card has helped to improve communication amongst health care practitioners across inpatient and outpatient services, families and carers by providing a handy, credit card sized alert card for patients with heart failure who have to go into hospital.
The third presentation was from Lorraine Burey, Mike Spence and Kieley Wild, Heart Failure Specialist Nurse. It was based on work they carried out with clinicians in 13 local GP practices and was part of the Greater Manchester Heart Failure Investigation Tool (GM-HFIT) programme. The team helped to develop three tools to audit and support the management of heart failure patients in primary care, along with an education package that addresses areas for improvement highlighted by the audit work. Re-audits have indicated that positive changes in patient management have been made as a result of the work.
Professor Christi Deaton, Clinical Lead and a past-chairperson of the Council on Cardiovascular Nursing and Allied Professions, said: “Well done to the team for their excellent presentations and abstracts and for securing a ‘featured abstract’ against such good competition. It shows that the work we’ve been doing in Greater Manchester is making a difference to the care for people with vascular conditions. The conference also provides the team with an excellent opportunity to find out what’s happening across Europe in this area - as there is a breadth of research and quality improvement projects that nurses and AHPs (allied health professionals) bring to this congress.”
The conference, which takes place every year, brings together hundreds of nurses and allied professionals from Europe and beyond to focus on new scientific findings and hot topics in cardiovascular nursing.
Date Published: 13/04/2012