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

OBJECTIVES: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. METHODS: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. RESULTS: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. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS:HF-DM information needs are not fully supported by current SNF information systems.