Information Needs of Skilled Nursing Facility Staff to Support Heart Failure Disease Management

Characterize key tasks and information needs for heart failure disease management (HF-DM) in the distinct care setting of skilled nursing facility (SNF) staff in partnership with community-based clinical stakeholders. Develop design recommendations contextualized to the SNF setting for informatics interventions for improved HF-DM in the SNF setting.

Semi-structured interviews with fifteen participants (registered nurses, licensed practical nurses, certified nursing aides and physicians) from 8 Denver-metro SNFs. Data coded using a data-driven, inductive approach.

Key tasks of HF-DM: symptom assessment, communicating change in condition, using equipment, documentation of daily weights, and monitoring patients. Themes: 1) HF-DM is challenged by a culture of verbal communication; 2) staff face knowledge barriers in HF-DM that are partially attributed to unmet information needs. HF-DM information needs: identification of HF patients, HF signs and symptoms, purpose of daily weights, indicators of worsening HF, purpose of sodium restricted diet, and materials to improve patients' understanding of HF.

HF-DM information needs are not fully supported by current SNF information systems.