Why the study?
Does advanced practice nursing support via telephone calls improve health-related quality of life and reduce unexpected health care contacts in cardiac surgery patients following hospital discharge?
Does advanced practice nursing support via telephone calls improve health-related quality of life and reduce unexpected health care contacts in cardiac surgery patients following hospital discharge?
Advanced practice nursing support via telephone follow-up after cardiac surgery did not significantly improve health-related quality of life or reduce unexpected healthcare contacts compared to usual care.
Post-discharge APN telephone support does not merit routine adoption after cardiac surgery; challenges benefit assumptions and reinforces usual care.
The purpose of this trial was to determine the effectiveness of advanced practice nursing support on cardiac surgery patients' during the first 5 weeks following hospital discharge. Patients ( N = 200) were randomly allocated to two groups: (a) an intervention group who received telephone calls from an advanced practice nurse (APN) familiar with their clinical condition and care needs, twice during the first week following discharge then weekly thereafter for 4 weeks, and (b) a usual care group. Measures of health-related quality of life (HRQL), symptom distress, satisfaction with recovery care, and unexpected health care contacts were obtained at 5 weeks following discharge. There were no significant group differences in HRQL, unexpected contacts with the health care system, or symptom distress. The provision of APN support via telephone followup after cardiac surgery is feasible. However, further randomized trials of single and multicomponent APN interventions are needed to prove effectiveness.
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Tranmer et al. (2004) studied this question.
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