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Summary Background Education programmes are required in chronic diseases. The insuffisance cardiaque : education therapeutique (I-CARE) programme was developed in France to promote the setting-up of therapeutic education units for chronic heart failure. Aim To evaluate the setting-up of such units, assessing the influence of training on the creation and organization of the unit, the problems encountered and the contribution of the dedicated educational tools. Methods We submitted a questionnaire to the first 136 trained centres. The questionnaire was divided into two sections: one section dealing with educational practices and the other with the advantages and disadvantages of the tools provided. Results The participation rate reached 69.1%. Seventy-four centres (78.7%) declared themselves to be active in therapeutic education. Unit educational activities determined an educational diagnosis (89.2% of the centres) and provided education by means of collective workshops (73.0%) or one-to-one teaching sessions (75.7%). A complete education programme for a patient consisted of a median of four sessions (25th–75th percentile, 2–5 sessions) and lasted for a median of 6 h (25th–75th percentile, 4–10 h). The education team was multidisciplinary and usually included a nurse (93.2%), a dietician (78.4%), a cardiologist (71.6%) and a physiotherapist (40.5%). Heart failure educational tools were used only in part in most centres (89.2%). All advantages and disadvantages were recorded. Conclusion This first evaluation of the setting-up of therapeutic education units in the I-CARE programme has yielded promising results, despite expected difficulties. The effects of therapeutic education on the behaviour of heart failure patients remain to be determined.

Aim To develop educational programs in chronic heart failure (CHF), creation of standardized tools for therapeutic education specifically dedicated to CHF patients was performed as a part of the French I-CARE project. Methods and Results A working group was constituted of cardiologists, nurses and dieticians, specialized in both therapeutic education and CHF. The personal patient's document consisted of a ring binder with dividers containing index cards for 5 units. The unit "Educational diagnosis" comprised a guide for the user and an auto-questionnaire for the patient. The unit "Knowledge of the disease" comprised a whiteboard for explaining cardiovascular physiology, a 3D-model of heart, and a glossary. The unit "Diet control" was composed of posters, a food-card game with a game mat figuring the different meals of a day, a low-salt recipe book, and 1-g salt spoons. The unit "Physical activity and daily life" comprised recommendations for physical activity and questionable real-life situations, and a card game for evaluation. The unit "Medical treatment" consisted of index cards for different cardiovascular drugs. Conclusion These educational tools should help multidisciplinary teams to develop therapeutic education dedicated to CHF in order to improve self-management, morbidity and quality of life in CHF patients.

Background Interest in the role of patient education sessions for optimizing the management of heart failure (HF) is increasing. We determined whether improvements in young and elderly patients' knowledge of HF and self-care behavior could be analyzed by administering a knowledge test before and after an educational session. Methods Stable heart failure patients (n = 115) were enrolled in a prospective cohort study from our Heart Failure educational centre in a university hospital. Patient knowledge of six major HF-related topics was assessed via a questionnaire distributed once before an educational session and twice afterward. Each answer was assigned a numerical value and the final score for each topic could range from 0 to 20. Scores ≥ 15/20 were considered representative of a good level of knowledge. Results The level of knowledge was low (9.7/20) before the educational session but was significantly higher (16.3/20) during the 1st quarter after the session, and this benefit was maintained for up to 12 months (16.6/20). Knowledge levels increased in both younger and elderly patients, and the number of patients who had a good level of knowledge also increased after the educational session. Conclusion This study confirms that an HF knowledge test is feasible and that educational sessions improve the knowledge and self-management of both younger and elderly patients.