Frontiers in Cardiovascular Medicine (Sep 2024)

Care manager role for older multimorbid heart failure patients’ needs in relation to psychological distress and quality of life: a cross-sectional study

  • Sara Gostoli,
  • Regina Subach,
  • Francesco Guolo,
  • Francesco Bernardini,
  • Alessandra Cammarata,
  • Graziano Gigante,
  • Birgit Herbeck Belnap,
  • Birgit Herbeck Belnap,
  • Diego Della Riva,
  • Stefano Urbinati,
  • Chiara Rafanelli

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3389/fcvm.2024.1432588
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 11

Abstract

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BackgroundThere are few studies investigating patients’ needs in healthcare focusing on disease severity and psychological characteristics of elderly heart failure (HF) patients with multimorbidity, specifically addressed by a care manager (CM).AimsTo explore the role of a CM dealing with elderly multimorbid HF patients’ needs/preferences according to NYHA class, ejection fraction, psychological/psychosomatic distress and quality of life (QoL), utilizing a Blended Collaborative Care (BCC) approach (ESCAPE; Grant agreement No 945377).MethodsCue cards, self-reported questionnaires, and a semi-structured interview were used to collect data.ResultsTwenty-five Italian patients (mean age ± SD = 77.5 ± 6.68) were enrolled between June 2021 and March 2022. The most relevant patients’ needs to be addressed by a CM were: education (e.g., on medical comorbidities), individual treatment tailoring (e.g., higher number of appointments with cardiologists) and symptom monitoring.ConclusionThe study highlights the importance of targeting HF patients’ needs according to psychological characteristics, whose healthcare requires person-centered care with CM assistance. In view of ESCAPE BCC intervention, a CM should consider specific patients’ needs of elderly multimorbid HF patients with psychological, psychosomatic distress, particularly somatization, and lower QoL to achieve a more personalized health care pathway.Study registrationThe «Evaluation of a patient-centred biopsychosocial blended collaborative care pathway for the treatment of multi-morbid elderly patients» (ESCAPE) study has been registered at the University of Göttingen Medical Centre (UMG Reg. No 02853) and the German Clinical Trials Register (DRKS00025120).

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