TY - JOUR
T1 - Heart failure care delivery in the covid-19 era
T2 - The patients’ perspective
AU - Fraser, Meg
AU - Mutschler, Melinda
AU - Newman, Christie
AU - Sackman, Kerry
AU - Mehdi, Batul
AU - Wick, Linda
AU - Duval, Sue
AU - Francis, Gary S.
AU - Alexy, Tamas
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.
PY - 2021/3
Y1 - 2021/3
N2 - Purpose: The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic is changing healthcare delivery around the world with hospital systems experiencing a dramatic decline in patient volumes. Surveying our center’s heart failure (HF) clinic population, we aimed to understand our patients’ perception of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and care delivery preferences. Methods: Patients with chronic HF presenting either in-person or virtually were approached to complete a ten question, anonymous, voluntary survey. Acutely decompensated patients and heart transplant recipients were excluded. Results: 109 patients completed the survey. Average age was 62 ± 14 years, 67% were male, and 59% had HF with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF). Overall, patients were worried about contracting COVID-19 and believed they were prone to more severe infection given their underlying HF. However, they were not hesitant to initiate healthcare contact for symptoms and preferred in-person appointments over virtual visits. Although the difference did not reach statistical significance, female patients and those with HF with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF) were more concerned. Conclusions: Patients with HF are concerned about their increased risk of contracting COVID-19. However, they are actively seeking healthcare contact and prefer in-person over virtual visits.
AB - Purpose: The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic is changing healthcare delivery around the world with hospital systems experiencing a dramatic decline in patient volumes. Surveying our center’s heart failure (HF) clinic population, we aimed to understand our patients’ perception of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and care delivery preferences. Methods: Patients with chronic HF presenting either in-person or virtually were approached to complete a ten question, anonymous, voluntary survey. Acutely decompensated patients and heart transplant recipients were excluded. Results: 109 patients completed the survey. Average age was 62 ± 14 years, 67% were male, and 59% had HF with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF). Overall, patients were worried about contracting COVID-19 and believed they were prone to more severe infection given their underlying HF. However, they were not hesitant to initiate healthcare contact for symptoms and preferred in-person appointments over virtual visits. Although the difference did not reach statistical significance, female patients and those with HF with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF) were more concerned. Conclusions: Patients with HF are concerned about their increased risk of contracting COVID-19. However, they are actively seeking healthcare contact and prefer in-person over virtual visits.
KW - COVID-19
KW - Heart failure care delivery
KW - Patient survey
KW - Telemedicine
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85104372671&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85104372671&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.3390/healthcare9030245
DO - 10.3390/healthcare9030245
M3 - Article
C2 - 33804305
AN - SCOPUS:85104372671
SN - 2227-9032
VL - 9
JO - Healthcare (Switzerland)
JF - Healthcare (Switzerland)
IS - 3
M1 - 245
ER -