1. Conclusion Motivation and Health Related Quality of Life in Patients With Left Ventricular Assist Device Implantation for Destination Therapy C. Gallagher BSN, L.Coyle APN, A. Tatooles, MD, R. Stout, PhD, M. Gavaria, MD, P. Pappas, MD,G. Bhat PhD, MD Advocate Christ Medical Center, Oak Lawn, Illinois MethodsIntroduction Hypotheses Results Conclusions All patients treated with LVAD reported improved QOL scores according to the MLWHFQ. SF-36 health survey scores suggested an increase in HRQOL for patients with a LVAD compared to the age matched U.S. general population. Patients primary motivation for LVAD for DT was to live longer. This study provides a framework to assess reliable and valid information about functional health and well being from LVAD patients’ point of view. Patients treated with LVAD for Destination Therapy have improved HRQOL scores post implant and these findings would be similar data for the general population. Assessing motivation and psychosocial well being in patients with Left Ventricular Assist Devices (LVAD) for destination is integral in the success of the evaluation of this growing population. The purpose of this study was to evaluate patient’s motivation for initial implant and perceived health related quality of life (HRQOL) post implantation. Paired sample t-tests of MLWHFQ revealed significantly improved overall (p <.001) in both the physical (p <.001), and emotional (p <.001) domain post implant compared to pre –implant. The subset of patients who completed SF-36 QOL survey had equivalent or better scores compared to age-matched norms on all subscales of the SF-36 which included physical functioning (PF), role limitation due to physical function (RLPF), role limitation due to emotional problems (RLEP), emotional well being (EWB), social functioning (SF), general health (GH), and bodily pain (BP). The primary motivation for LVAD was desire to live longer while family, religion and severity of illness played a role. All patients (n=52) implanted with LVAD for Destination Therapy between 2005-2007 at our institution completed Minnesota Living with Heart Failure Questionnaire (MLWHF) pre and post implant. Of these 52 patients, 21% (n=11) also completed the Rand Short-Form 36 (SF-36) survey and interviewed regarding motivation for implant at an average of 17 months (1-33) post hospital discharge. Tips for Inserting Graphs or Images Note: Skip the following procedure if your graphs were created in PowerPoint®, Illustrator (eps file) or Excel. Image checking procedure: After you insert the image(72 dpi screen resolution) and resize* to fit, right click on it and select Format Picture. When the pop-up window comes up, click on size and check the scale. The image will print better if its width and height scale is at 25% or lower (20% or 10%, etc.) If the scale of the image is higher than 25%, try to replace it with a larger size (more dpi, e.g. 300dpi) image if possible. (Note: This should not be done by manually stretching the image to a larger size.) If the resolution of the image is 300 dpi or higher (400 or 600 dpi), then check to make sure its scale is not higher than 100%. *To resize an image – Click on the image, hold the Shift key down and drag the bottom right corner to resize the image in proportion. (Delete this box when inserting your text or image. This is only a reminder.) Tips for Title/Headers Bar Color How to change the background color for the poster title and headers: Right click on the bar and select Format Autoshape. When the pop-up window comes up, select your color under “Fill” and then “Color” menu. For more effects select Fill Effects under the Color option. (Delete this box when inserting your text or image. This is only a reminder.) Tips for Excel Charts Copy and paste your Excel chart. The chart can be stretched to fit as required. If you need to edits parts of the chart, we recommend you edit the original chart in Excel, then re-paste the new chart. (Delete this box when inserting your text or image. This is only a reminder.)