Proposed Topic (Most preferred): :
Clinical Safety and Quality Service III (Projects aiming at quality service to patients and their carers)
Authors (including presenting author) :
Chan CS (1), Lam YT (1), Tsang YN (1), Lui NF (1), Lee KY (2)
Affiliation :
(1) Occupational Therapy Department, Queen Elizabeth Hospital
(2) Department of Medicine, Queen Elizabeth Hospital
Introduction :
Heart failure (HF) is a multi-faceted and life-threatening syndrome characterized by significant morbidity and mortality, poor functional capacity and quality of life, and high costs.
Transitional care is founded in Queen Elizabeth Hospital to ensure continuity and coordinated care provided to HF patients transitioning from hospital to community with multidisciplinary approach. The program is to empower patients’ disease management ability with early identification.
Starting from October 2023, Occupational therapy was included in the program to provide a new and innovative program to heart failure patients which aims at improve patient engagement in daily livings and life role post heart failure. We provide both individual session and group therapy. For group therapy, they are namely Occupational Lifestyle Redesign (OLSR) group and Health Qigong (HQ) group. The OLSR group consists of 4 sessions and integrate the self-management concept in various topics such as activity pacing, fatigue and dyspnoea management, energy conservation, relaxation techniques and sleep management. The HQ group consists of 6 sessions and is a body-mind integrative therapy which promotes active lifestyle and emotional control.
Objectives :
The objectives of this paper are (1) To investigate the characteristics of patient with heart failure and (2) To evaluate patient’s perception on OLSR group and Health Qigong group
Methodology :
Patients who were referred to occupational therapy by the comprehensive heart failure program were recruited. Therapists would conduct a comprehensive assessment to the participants. For those who were indicated to join the group therapy, post group evaluation questionnaire will be given to review their feedback and satisfaction on group intervention in this program
Result & Outcome :
From Oct 2022 to Oct 2023, 161 heart failure patients were referred to Occupational Therapy Department under this program. Their mean age 66.5 with 74% was male. Majority (83%) were classified as NYHA Class I to II. Totally there were 30 patients joined OLSR group. Over 90% of patients reported increase confidence in managing HF symptoms. 80% of patients reported increase confidence in the application of dyspnoea management and energy conservation in daily livings. For HQ group, 30 patients had joined. 90% of patients agreed practising Health Qigong was good for cardiopulmonary function and could establish healthy lifestyle in long run. All patients agreed they would adopt and sustain health Qigong as a routine leisure activity to make balance and active lifestyle in the future.
Implications:
Patients with heart failure showed positive feedback after joining these groups in helping their self-management skill. Further study on their ability in activities resumption and psychological improvement can be conducted with more sample size recruited in the future.
