The Slovenian Version of the Thirst Distress Scale for Patients with Heart Failure: Translation and Psychometric Evaluation.

Unlabelled: Thirst is a common symptom in patients with heart failure (HF), which can cause a high degree of distress. Increased fluid intake due to thirst can lead to clinical deterioration because of shifts in volume status. The thirst assessment should be included in routine patient follow-up; however, only a limited set of validated instruments are available.

Patient's Perception of Primary Health Care Provision With Respect to Access, Continuity and Coordination-InCept: An International Qualitative Perspective.

Health care systems are confronted with an increasing burden of (multi-)morbidity and a shortfall of healthcare providers. Coordination and continuity of care in chronic and multi-morbid patient is especially important. As qualitative patient experience data within care processes is scarce, we aim to increase the understanding of chronically ill patient's perspectives by assessing patient experiences in different health systems while treated in primary care.

Challenges and strategies for effective recruitment and retention of participants in clinical research studies.

Effective recruitment and retention of participants in clinical research studies are critical to be able to draw meaningful and valid conclusions in research studies. However, there are multiple challenges related to communication, generalizability, and logistics. Researchers must address and overcome these challenges to ensure robust research outcomes.

Describing the use of remote dielectric sensing and handheld ultrasound in assessing lung congestion in heart failure patients within a primary care setting.

Thorough consideration of user experiences and the weighing of advantages and disadvantages are essential when implementing new technology in clinical practice. This article describes a primary care nurse's experience using two technologies to monitor lung congestion in six patient cases: a remote dielectric sensing device for non-invasive lung fluid measurement and a portable handheld ultrasound device. Both can support decision-making when assessing lung congestion in heart failure patients.

Self-care: a well-known but yet elusive concept. A discussion of theories, concepts, interventions, and measurement.

Good self-care can improve survival, decrease health care costs, and improve quality of life of persons with cardiovascular illness. Health care professionals from different disciplines have a role in self-care support. Many definitions, theories, and measurement instruments exist addressing self-care and this plethora might be confusing to clinicians and researchers.

Spotlight on the 2024 ESC/EACTS management of atrial fibrillation guidelines: 10 novel key aspects.

Atrial fibrillation (AF) remains the most common cardiac arrhythmia worldwide and is associated with significant morbidity and mortality. The European Society of Cardiology (ESC)/European Association for Cardio-Thoracic Surgery (EACTS) have recently released the 2024 guidelines for the management of AF. This review highlights 10 novel aspects of the ESC/EACTS 2024 Guidelines.

Examining the clinical role and educational preparation of heart failure nurses across Europe. A survey of the Heart Failure Association (HFA) of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) and the Association of Cardiovascular Nursing and Allied Professions (ACNAP) of the ESC.

Aims: To describe the clinical practice and educational preparation of heart failure (HF) nurses across Europe and determine the key differences between countries.

Methods And Results: A survey tool was developed, in English, by the Heart Failure Association Patient Care committee of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC). It was translated into eight languages, before electronically disseminated by nurse ambassadors, presidents of HF national societies and through social media.

Successful use of point-of-care ultrasound for an elderly patient with heart failure in a primary care setting: a case report.

Background: Appropriate assessment of fluid status of patients with heart failure (HF) is challenging in outpatient settings, e.g. primary care, especially among elderly HF patients with multiple comorbidities.

Measuring Self-Care: A Description of the Family of Disease-Specific and Generic Instruments Based on the Theory of Self-Care of Chronic Illness.

Background: In recent years, there has been an exponential increase in attention paid to the patient-reported outcome of self-care. Many investigators have used one of the families of self-care instruments freely available on the website www.self-care-measures.

Interviewing people on sensitive topics: challenges and strategies.

Interviewing participants on sensitive topics is challenging and requires carefully planned and executed strategies throughout the research process. Sensitive topics have the potential to cause distress to participants or researchers. In this methods paper, strategies for conducting interviews on sensitive topics are described, including choosing the appropriate interview approach, creating a safe and comfortable environment, building rapport, utilizing sensitive and open questioning, reflexivity of the researcher, and awareness of the potential therapeutic effect of the interviews on participants.

Lessons learned from the MOMENT study on how to recruit and retain a target population online, across borders, and with automated remote data collection.

Increasingly, studies use social media to recruit, enroll, and collect data from participants. This introduces a threat to data integrity: efforts to produce fraudulent data to receive participant compensation, e.g.

The Rationale Behind the Design Decisions in an Augmented Reality Mobile eHealth Exergame to Increase Physical Activity for Inactive Older People With Heart Failure.

Physical activity is important for everyone to maintain and improve health, especially for people with chronic diseases. Mobile exergaming has the potential to increase physical activity and to specifically reach people with poor activity levels. However, commercial mobile exergames are not specially designed for older people with chronic illnesses such as heart failure.

The Application of a Serious Game Framework to Design and Develop an Exergame for Patients With Heart Failure.

Reducing inactivity in patients with chronic disease is vital since it can decrease the risk of disease progression and mortality. Exergames are an innovative approach to becoming more physically active and positively affecting physical health outcomes. Serious games are designed for purposes beyond entertainment and exergames are serious games for physical activity.

Nurses' experiences of ethical challenges concerning thirst in dying patients in specialist palliative care: a qualitative study.

Aim: To describe nurses' experiences of ethical challenges in relation to thirst in terminally ill patients in specialist palliative care units.

Research Design: A qualitative, reflexive thematic design with an inductive analysis was used.

Participants And Research Context: Eighteen qualitative interviews with nurses working in six different specialist palliative care units in different hospitals in Sweden were conducted.

Nurses' perception of thirst in patients within palliative home care: a qualitative study.

Background: Thirst is the body's natural urge to replenish fluids in response to a deficiency in hydration. Patients at the end of life gradually lose their independence and reach a point where they become unable to express their needs and can no longer drink on their own. In palliative care, the main advice is to provide regular oral care to relieve symptoms such as dry mouth and thirst.

Exergaming to Increase Physical Activity in Older Adults: Feasibility and Practical Implications.

Purpose Of Review: To evaluate the feasibility of exergaming among older adults, focusing on acceptability, demand, implementation, and practicality. Additionally, to offer practical implications based on the review's findings.

Recent Findings: Exergaming is a safe for older adults, potentially increasing physical activity, balance, cognition, and mood.