While an intervention to improve medication adherence in high-risk heart failure patients can be successful, improved medication adherence does not lower heart failure readmission rates, according to a Duke Medicine study presented at the American Heart Association's Scientific Sessions meeting.
The study tested if patients were more likely to stick to their medicine regimes after nurses coached them on adherence procedures. Patients who received coaching were four times more likely to continue take their medicine than those who did not receive coaching.
However, the heart failure readmission rates showed no significant difference between the two patient groups, which surprised researchers. Bradi B. Granger, RN, PhD, director of the Heart Center Nursing Research Program at Duke, said they need to study other social and economic factors that may contribute to heart failure readmissions.
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