AUTHOR=Iyngkaran Pupalan , Hanna Fahad , Andrew Sharon , Horowitz John David , Battersby Malcolm , De Courten Maximilian Pangratius TITLE=Comparison of short and long forms of the Flinders program of chronic disease SELF-management for participants starting SGLT-2 inhibitors for congestive heart failure (SELFMAN-HF): protocol for a prospective, observational study JOURNAL=Frontiers in Medicine VOLUME=10 YEAR=2023 URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/medicine/articles/10.3389/fmed.2023.1059735 DOI=10.3389/fmed.2023.1059735 ISSN=2296-858X ABSTRACT=Introduction

Congestive heart failure (CHF) causes significant morbidity and mortality. It is an epidemic, and costs are escalating. CHF is a chronic disease whose trajectory includes stable phases, periods of decompensation, and finally palliation. Health services and medical therapies must match the various patient needs. Chronic disease self-management (CDSM) programmes that are patient-focused, identify problems and set actionable goals that appear as a logical, cost-friendly method to navigate patient journeys. There have been challenges in standardising and implementing CHF programmes.

Methods and analysis

SELFMAN-HF is a prospective, observational study to evaluate the feasibility and validity of the SCRinHF tool, a one-page self-management and readmission risk prediction tool for CHF, with an established, comprehensive CDSM tool. Eligible patients will have CHF with left ventricular ejection fraction <40% and commenced sodium glucose co-transporter-2 inhibitors (SGLT2-i) within 6 months of recruitment. The primary endpoint is the 80% concordance in readmission risk predicted by the SCRinHF tool. The study will recruit >40 patients and is expected to last 18 months.

Ethics and dissemination

This study has been approved by the St Vincent’s ethics committee (approval no. LRR 177/21). All participants will complete a written informed consent prior to enrolment in the study. The study results will be disseminated widely via local and international health conferences and peer-reviewed publications.