Trial of an Internet-based Platform for Monitoring Heart Failure Patients

Summary

Several studies have indicated that heart failure (HF) clinics facilitating patient self-management and using multi-disciplinary care reduce in hospital bed-days, all-cause and HF-related hospitalizations, all-cause mortality, and improve patient quality of life. Additionally, national and provincial organizations have identified patient-focused homecare initiatives in telehealth as demonstrating great promise for health service. Our pilot study demonstrated the feasibility of the internet based vHFC and supports the investigation of this intervention in patients with HF.

The purpose of our single-blinded randomized trail is to investigate the efficacy of an Internet-based heart failure (HF) clinic (vHFC) in 186 patients living with HF.

Hypotheses

A. Participation in a vHFC emphasizing patient self-management and monitoring will result in improved functional capacity compared to usual care in patients with HF.

B. Participation in a vHFC emphasizing patient self-management and monitoring will result in improved health indices such as, self-management skills, quality of life, levels of B-type natriuretic peptide and healthcare utilization compared to usual care in patients with HF.

Our objectives of the vHFC study is as follows:

1. To establish a cohort of 186 patients with HF.
2. To determine the benefits of participating in the vHFC over usual care at 12 months with respect to exercise capacity.
3. To compare the changes in other risk factors and lifestyle behaviours between the vHFC and usual care patients.

Conditions

• Heart Failure

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

vHFC

Common practice for managing HF patients attending urban-based, specialized HF clinics is to have them weigh themselves daily and report any dramatic fluctuations and/or increasing symptoms to their clinic. We have transformed this model to the vHFC website such that each day, participants will logon to the vHFC and enter their weight and answer six questions regarding their current symptoms. An alert will be generated if the participant enters data outside of the desired parameters, does not enter their data for three consecutive days, or enters a comment in the text box for the vHFC nurse to view. If an alert is generated, following participant data entry, the participant is presented with a pop up window to inform them that the vHFC nurse will contact them within 24 hours. The nurse will contact the participant by telephone to discuss the alert generated and provide counselling.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR)

  collaborator OTHER_GOV

• Simon Fraser University

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Scott A Lear, PhD · Simon Fraser University

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

TREATMENT

Masking

SINGLE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

19 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2011-04-30

Primary Completion

2014-11-30

Completion

2014-11-30

Countries

• Canada

Study Locations