Discussion
The findings of this study support the evidence that outpatient interdisciplinary education classes designed to improve self-management skills can reduce readmission rates at 30 days after hospital discharge. Though there was a gradual increase in the number of readmissions at 60 and 180 days in the interventional group, they still remained less than the usual care group. HF often co-occurs with other chronic conditions.3 It is interesting to note that in this study, more patients in the intervention group had diagnosed coronary artery disease (CAD), hypertension, diabetes, and sleep apnea. This indicates that the intervention group may have had more complex health care needs, but the outpatient class significantly reduced hospital readmissions. Future research will be needed to examine the reasons for the decrease of a person's ability to self-manage his or her heart condition over time.