HeartCareII: home care support for patients with chronic cardiac disease.

Systematic engagement of patients in disease management requires design and deployment of innovative technologies that complement and extend professional nursing services. We describe here a model of nursing practice that capitalizes on a web-based resource (HeartCareII) to support patient self-management, symptom interpretation, and self-monitoring. Research staff provided computers and technical assistance; visit nurses trained patients in the components of the HeartCareII Website most relevant to their care needs. This paper describes the nursing practice model and the web resource, and reports the experience of patients recruited in the early phase of the study.