Introduction

One of the strategies that has shown improvement in self-care for patients with heart failure is the formation of dyads and groups to provide peer support and achieve individual goals.

General objective

To determine the effect of an expert patient program on heart failure related to the knowledge about adherence to treatment and satisfaction.

Method

A sectional-descriptive pilot study was conducted in patients with heart failure diagnoses in a fourth-level institution. The sample size represents the entire population with the restriction criteria (N: 20 subjects). An expert patient program was implemented for 6 months and the measured outcomes were level of knowledge and satisfaction. Data was gathered from a knowledge test on adherence to treatment and a satisfaction poll. Information was processed with IBM SPSS Statistics 23.0. The distribution of absolute and relative frequencies was performed by descriptive analysis.

Results

More than 95% of patients showed improvement in the level of knowledge and 85% reported a high global level of satisfaction (very satisfied), reflected in the dimension of loyalty and effectiveness.

Conclusions

The expert patient in heart failure program is a cost-effective intervention, which provides capabilities to help other patients gain self-confidence and skills to manage their health condition.

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