Nursing's Response to the Executive Order to Advance American Kidney Health.

The state of American kidney health is currently under the microscope. In the United States, approximately 20,000 persons advance to end-stage renal disease annually. Trends indicate accelerating increases in cost of care and a high mortality rate among patients with end-stage renal disease, with only 57% of patients surviving after 3 years. An executive order by the White House has placed the transformation of kidney care at the forefront of the country's health care agenda. The order focuses on key issues including improving outcomes, reducing treatment-related expenditures and increasing kidney donations. Mobilization of health care resources directed toward policymaking, workforce growth and development, and research will be critical to effectively achieve this executive order. Nursing's response, as the health care profession with the most members, will be crucial to achieving response implementation and success of the order. This article describes immediate and future actions including policy, leadership, clinical, educational, and research initiatives that the nursing profession should take to advance kidney health. It calls for specific actions by nursing and focuses on nursing organizations, nursing research, quality improvement initiatives, nursing innovation, advanced practice nursing, and the nephrology and transplant nursing workforce in order to improve kidney health nationally. The impact of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic on kidney health and the implications for the profession of nursing are outlined. Although there are still many unknowns about the pandemic, nursing's voice is necessary to ensure the ongoing delivery of high-quality care.

Using video education to improve outcomes in heart failure.

BACKGROUND: Heart Failure (HF) guidelines recommend HF self-care education. An optimal method of educating HF patients does not currently exist. OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the effectiveness of supplementing usual HF education with video education and evaluate patients' satisfaction with video education. METHODS: A mixed methods design was used. A convenience sample of 70 patients was recruited from an academic medical center. Participants completed the Atlanta Heart Failure Knowledge Test and the Self-care of Heart Failure Index before and after receiving video education, to measure HF knowledge, self-efficacy, and self-care respectively. Video usage and satisfaction with video education data were collected. All-cause 30-day readmissions data were compared to a historical group. RESULTS: HF knowledge and self-care maintenance scores increased significantly. Self-efficacy, self-care management and all-cause 30-day readmissions did not significantly improve. Most HF patients were highly satisfied. CONCLUSION: Supplementing usual HF education with VE was associated with improved HF knowledge and self-care maintenance.