Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Clinical Trial
. 2001 Sep 29;323(7315):715-8.
doi: 10.1136/bmj.323.7315.715.

Randomised controlled trial of specialist nurse intervention in heart failure

L Blue  1 , E Lang, J J McMurray, A P Davie, T A McDonagh, D R Murdoch, M C Petrie, E Connolly, J Norrie, C E Round, I Ford, C E Morrison
Affiliations
Clinical Trial

Randomised controlled trial of specialist nurse intervention in heart failure

L Blue et al. BMJ. .

Abstract

Objectives: To determine whether specialist nurse intervention improves outcome in patients with chronic heart failure.

Design: Randomised controlled trial.

Setting: Acute medical admissions unit in a teaching hospital.

Participants: 165 patients admitted with heart failure due to left ventricular systolic dysfunction. The intervention started before discharge and continued thereafter with home visits for up to 1 year.

Main outcome measures: Time to first event analysis of death from all causes or readmission to hospital with worsening heart failure.

Results: 31 patients (37%) in the intervention group died or were readmitted with heart failure compared with 45 (53%) in the usual care group (hazard ratio=0.61, 95% confidence interval 0.33 to 0.96). Compared with usual care, patients in the intervention group had fewer readmissions for any reason (86 v 114, P=0.018), fewer admissions for heart failure (19 v 45, P<0.001) and spent fewer days in hospital for heart failure (mean 3.43 v 7.46 days, P=0.0051).

Conclusions: Specially trained nurses can improve the outcome of patients admitted to hospital with heart failure.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Patient distribution in trial
Figure 2
Figure 2
Time to first event (death from any cause or hospital admission for heart failure) in usual care and nurse intervention groups
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Comment in

References

    1. McMurray JJ, Stewart S. Epidemiology, aetiology, and prognosis of heart failure. Heart. 2000;83:596–602. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Stewart S, MacIntyre K, Hole DJ, Capewell S, McMurray JJ. More ‘malignant’ than cancer? Five-year survival following a first admission for heart failure. Eur J Heart Fail. 2001;3:315–322. - PubMed
    1. Ashton CM. Care of patients with failing hearts: evidence for failures in clinical practice and health services research. J Gen Intern Med. 1999;14:138–140. - PubMed
    1. Chin MH, Goldman L. Factors contributing to the hospitalization of patients with congestive heart failure. Am J Public Health. 1997;87:643–648. - PMC - PubMed
    1. McMurray JJ, Stewart S. Nurse led, multidisciplinary intervention in chronic heart failure. Heart. 1998;80:430–431. - PMC - PubMed

Publication types