A telephone-delivered empowerment intervention with patients diagnosed with heart failure.

Background: Heart failure (HF) is a major public health problem. Case management by nurses using telephone follow-up has been suggested as a convenient and effective mechanism to promote the self-management of HF. Similarly, a patient empowerment approach to the management of chronic disease has been suggested as one that may nurture self-management in individuals with chronic illness.

NPs vs other healthcare providers in end-of-life care.

As nurse practitioners become more vital to primary care, they are also more apt to play a role in end-of-life care. In order to be proficient providers, NPs must familiarize themselves with issues surrounding EOL care.

Defining and monitoring indwelling catheter-related urinary tract infections.

Defining and monitoring infection rates in home care is of major importance with the implementation of Adverse Event Outcome Reports. This study identifies the collective effort of home care quality improvement nurses in defining standard indicators for urinary tract infections and the ways to monitor these infections within and across home care agencies for evaluation and benchmarking.