Leveraging home health aides to improve outcomes in heart failure: A pilot study protocol

Abstract

Heart failure (HF) affects six million people in the U.S., is associated with high morbidity, mortality, and healthcare utilization.^{(1, 2)} Despite a decade of innovation, the majority of interventions aimed at reducing hospitalization and readmissions in HF have not been successful.^(3-7) One reason may be that most have overlooked the role of home health aides and attendants (HHAs), who are often highly involved in HF care.^(8-13) Despite their contributions, studies have found that HHAs lack specific HF training and have difficulty reaching their nursing supervisors when they need urgent help with their patients. Here we describe the protocol for a pilot randomized control trial (pRCT) assessing a novel stakeholder-engaged intervention that provides HHAs with a) HF training (enhanced usual care arm) and b) HF training plus a mobile health application that allows them to chat with a nurse in real-time (intervention arm). In collaboration with the VNS Health of New York, NY, we will conduct a single-site parallel arm pRCT with 104 participants (HHAs) to evaluate the feasibility, acceptability, and effectiveness (primary outcomes: HF knowledge; HF caregiving self-efficacy) of the intervention among HHAs caring for HF patients. We hypothesize that educating and better integrating HHAs into the care team can improve their ability to provide support for patients and outcomes for HF patients as well (exploratory outcomes include hospitalization, emergency department visits, and readmission). This study offers a novel and potentially scalable way to leverage the HHA workforce and improve the outcomes of the patients for whom they care. Clinical trial.gov registration: NCT04239911.

Keywords: Clinical trial design; Heart failure; Home health; Home health aides; Long term care.

Figure 1.

Schematic of Pilot RCT with HHAs caring for HF Patients