NURS FPX 4025 Assessment 2
[Student Name]
Capella University
Professor’s Name
August 2025
NURS FPX 4025 Assessment 2: Heart Failure
Heart failure (HF) is a difficult and protracted condition that engulfs an approximated 6 million Americans (Roger & Clinic, 2021). The mortality rate of patients with HF is higher, and, during five years, one can expect approximately 50% survival (Roger & Clinic, 2021). During those five years, the quality of life (QOL) of the patients is frequently tremendously affected. The fatigue, dyspnea, edema, and a diminished activity tolerance are the manifestations of the disease directly relevant to the condition of HF patients. Furthermore, there is a rise in both hospital readmissions and overall deterioration of the patients with HF (Cheng et al., 2025). HF treatment may be enhanced by the utilization of an evidence-based practice (EBP) as a method to enhance the outcomes of HF patients and their general QOL. NURS FPX 4025 assessment 2 addresses the application of an EBP model on the clinical practice QOL enhancement in patients with HF.
EBP Model
The Iowa EBP Model also requires a 6-staged procedure to help the clinicians to ascertain how research results can be translated into practice, thereby applying evidence-based practice. This model begins with the formulation and the generation of question or need which should be answered to enhance practice. Next, research is conducted to read and analyze literature and synthesize information. The model proposes that when the literature findings are inadequate, the clinicians are supposed to undertake research. Then, starting with obtained evidence, create a pilot solution and deliver it. After implementing the pilot, evaluate its success. If successful, expand it across the organization; if not, initiate a new cycle until the desired outcomes are achieved (Dusin et al., 2023), which reflects applying evidence-based practice in nursing. The model will be advantageous since it takes into consideration the whole system of
health care, healthcare providers, and patients. In NURS FPX 4025 Assessment 2, this aspect of the Iowa Model is emphasized as it promotes the combination of research and clinical decision-making. Hence, there will be an advantage associated with supporting the application of evidence-based studies to enhance QOL in patients with HF. A procedure to aid in enhancing patient outcomes was developed using the Iowa Model of EBP to enhance the QOL of HF patients. The issues of low reported QOL in HF patients were chosen as the first problem. According to the literature, poorer QOL in HF patients is related to higher mortality rates and the number of hospitalizations due to HF (Johansson et al., 2021). This depicts why this issue should be prioritized in healthcare and evidence-based solutions, such as evidence-based practice applied behavior analysis, should be implemented. The second phase of Iowa Model of EBP is to collect the research and literature to QOL in HF. The implementation of this EBP model posed challenges in research collection since it lacks clear guidance on evidence-gathering methods, as described in NURS FPX 4025 Assessment 2. It is stated in the selected model that in cases when the literature is insufficient, investigation is needed (Dusin et al., 2023).
The article by Graven and colleagues (2023), titled The Coping in Heart Failure (COPE-HF) Partnership Intervention for Heart Failure Symptoms, Implications for Palliative Care, resides in the domain of telehealth use in HF patient care. This depicts why this issue should be prioritized in healthcare and evidence-based solutions, such as evidence-based practice applied behavior analysis, should be implemented (Graven et al., 2023). The goal of this intervention was assisting HF with problem-solving skills in order to promote disease and symptom management self- efficacy (Graven et al., 2023). The findings of this study in NURS FPX 4025 Assessment 2 indicate that the severity of the symptoms in HF patients can be considerably decreased by using telehealth visits to deliver the necessary and personalized
support and problem-solving intervention, raising the QOL in the HF patients (Graven et al., 2023). This tool offers the information that can be put in direct correlation with the enhancing of QOL in HF patients. The article appeared in the peer-reviewed journal Progress in Palliative Care that deals with the issues of palliative care. Moreover, this article has been published in 2023, and that is within the recent five years. This is great evidence of trying to solve the proposed problem of enhancement of QOL in HF patients since it is credible and pertinent, thereby applying evidence-based practice.
A second article in NURS FPX 4025 Assessment 2, which will discuss QOL in HF patients, is entitled Association of receipt of palliative care interventions with health care use, quality of life, and symptom burden among adults with chronic noncancer illness: A systematic review and meta-analysis by Quinn and the coauthors (2020). The researchers conducted a systematic meta-analysis in this article to assess the association between the use of palliative care and hospital admissions, QOL, and burden of symptoms in patients who had chronic diseases but were not related to cancer (Quinn et al., 2020), thereby applying evidence-based practice. The outcomes of the conducted review indicated that the inclusion of a specialized professional in palliative care as a component of the interdisciplinary care workforce can benefit patient-centered outcomes (Quinn et al., 2020). The study is relevant to the QOL in HF patient because the study takes into consideration the adults who have chronic illnesses that are not cancerous such as HF patients. It is also peer-reviewed and appeared in the Journal of the American Medical Association, a peer-reviewed medical journal, in 2020, thereby applying evidence-based practice. This paper pertains to the topic under consideration and is of reliable origin, which is why it can be regarded as the proper piece of evidence to enhance QOL among HF patients.
Hicks and colleagues (2022) in their article, Effectiveness and cost effectiveness of palliative care interventions in people with chronic heart failure and their caregivers: A systematic review, describe further evidence with the help of which QOL may be improved in patients with HF. The study authors in this systematic review sought this out to determine the existing studies on the effectiveness of palliative care interventions in patients with HF (Hicks et al., 2022). Hicks and colleagues identified in their review that the earlier a patient received palliative care, the less aggressive care they received at the end of their life, yet they lived longer (Hicks et al., 2022), which reflects applying evidence-based practice in nursing. Moreover, it was discovered that palliative care interventions enhance the QOL and the rates of hospitalization together with the patient satisfaction scores (Hicks et al., 2022). This article is reliable because it is a systematic review which was peer-reviewed. The article appeared in 2022 in BMC Palliative Care, an open-access medical journal. It offers sound findings of how to enhance QOL in HF patients. The foregoing qualifies it as a plausible source of evidence to aid in formulating a solution to enhancing QOL among HF patients in NURS FPX 4025 Assessment 2.
References
Bhattacharya, A., Chakrabarty, S., Cabrales, J., VanHorn, A., Lemoine, J., Tsao, L., & Jaber, B.
L. (2023). Implementation of a palliative care consultation trigger tool for hospitalized patients with acute decompensated heart failure. BMJ open quality, 12(3), e002330. https://doi-org.library.capella.edu/10.1136/bmjoq-2023-002330
Chen, C., Sun, X., Zhang, Y., Xie, H., Kou, J., & Zhang, H. (2025). Fear of progression and quality of life in patients with heart failure: A cross-sectional study on the multiple mediation of psychological distress and resilience. BMC Nursing, 24(1), 1–11. https://doi-org.library.capella.edu/10.1186/s12912-025-02688-8
Dusin, J., Melanson, A., & Mische-Lawson, L. (2023). Evidence-based practice models and frameworks in the healthcare setting: A scoping review. BMJ open, 13(5), e071188. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2022-071188
Graven, L. J., Abbott, L., & Schluck, G. (2023). The coping in heart failure (COPE-HF) partnership intervention for heart failure symptoms: Implications for palliative care. Progress in Palliative Care, 31(3), 169–178.
https://doi-org.library.capella.edu/10.1080/09699260.2022.2124144
Hicks, S., Davidson, M., Efstathiou, N., & Guo, P. (2022). Effectiveness and cost effectiveness of palliative care interventions in people with chronic heart failure and their caregivers: A systematic review. BMC palliative care, 21(1), 205.
https://doi-org.library.capella.edu/10.1186/s12904-022-01092-2
Johansson, I., Joseph, P., Balasubramanian, K., McMurray, J. J., Lund, L. H., Ezekowitz, J. A., … & G-CHF Investigators. (2021). Health-related quality of life and mortality in heart failure: The global congestive heart failure study of 23 000 patients from 40 countries. Circulation, 143(22), 2129-2142. https://doi.org/10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.120.050850
Quinn, K. L., Shurrab, M., Gitau, K., Kavalieratos, D., Isenberg, S. R., Stall, N. M., Stukel, T. A., Goldman, R., Horn, D., Cram, P., Detsky, A. S., & Bell, C. M. (2020). Association of receipt of palliative care interventions with health care use, quality of life, and symptom burden among adults with chronic noncancer illness: A systematic review and meta- analysis. JAMA: Journal of the American Medical Association, 324(14), 1439–1450. https://doi-org.library.capella.edu/10.1001/jama.2020.14205
Roger, V. L., & Clinic, M. (2021). Epidemiology of heart failure. Circulation research, 128(10), 1421. https://10.1161/circresaha.121.318172
