Uncertainty was described as “The gap between what is known and what needs to be
known in order to make correct decisions". Uncertainty has been identified as a significant
part of the experience of heart disease and yet no studies have fully explored the experience of
uncertainty in patients living with chronic heart failure. Objective: The study aimed to
explore the uncertainty in heart failure and its relation to patient's health related quality of
life (HRQOL). Setting: The study was conducted at the Out Patient Cardiac Clinic of King
Abdul Aziz University Hospital in Jeddah. Subjects: A convenience sample of 60 heart failure
patients were enrolled for follow up, their age ranged from 55 up to 65 years. Tools: three
tools were used by the researchers to collect the necessary data: Tool I: Biosociodemogaphic
characteristics tool. Tool II: Mishel uncertainty in illness scale (MUIS-C). Tool III: Health
related quality of life measures (HRQOL) was used to examine disease specific HRQOL.
Results: A high level of uncertainty was found in 34 (57%) heart failure patients. The mean
score of heart failure patient's uncertainty was 71+3.1, while the mean score among patients
with high and low uncertainty were 75+4.56 & 64.5+2.88 respectively with no significant
difference. In relation to HRQOL, the overall mean score of patients was 22.3+1.7. On the
contrary, the mean score of patient's HRQOL with high uncertainty was 20.66+2.12, while
the mean score of patient's HRQOL with low uncertainty was 23.63+3.61. The study clearly
showed highly significant impact of uncertainty (according to F-test, p<0.01, p<0.05) on
HRQOL concerning physical functioning, emotional and general health between patient's
with low and high uncertainty. Low uncertainty patients had better quality of life concerning
physical functioning, emotional and general health. Conclusion: The majority of heart failure
patients had a high uncertainty level, which affect patient's quality of life negatively.
Recommendations: It is recommended to consider the heart failure patient's uncertainty level
and its negative effect on patient's quality of life as basic aspect of patient's management.
Consequently the cardiac patient's health condition will be improved without further cardiac
complications and repeated attacks of heart failure problems.