Introduction of specialized heart failure nurses in primary care and its impact on readmissions

BACKGROUND: Heart failure (HF) has a 2% prevalence in the population and is a major cause of morbidity and mortality. Multiple efforts have been made worldwide to improve quality of care and decrease unplanned readmissions for HF patients, one of which has been the introduction of specialist HF nurses (HFN) in primary health care. The present evidence on the benefits of HFN is contradicting. This study aims to evaluate the impact of a quality improvement intervention, availability of a HFN in Swedish primary care, on hospital readmissions. METHODS: All patients over the age of 65 with a HF diagnosis and with complete information on availability of a HFN were included in this retrospective register-based study. Using propensity score matching (PSM) techniques, two comparable groups of 128 patients each were created according to the exposure status, availability or no availability of a HFN. The rate of readmission was compared between the groups. RESULTS: Using PSM, 256 patients were matched, 128 in the HFN group and 128 in the no-HFN group. A total of 50% and 46.09% of patients in the HFN and no-HFN groups were readmitted, respectively. Mean number of readmissions per patient was 1.19 (SD 0.61) in the HFN group and 1.10 (SD 0.44) in the no-HFN group. Patients in the HFN had 17.6% higher odds of being readmitted during the study period, OR: 1.176 (CI: 0.716–1.932), and 3.8% lower odds of being readmitted within 30 days, OR: 0.962 (CI: 0.528–1.750). CONCLUSIONS: Availability of a HFN in primary care was not significantly associated with reduced readmissions for the patients included in this study. Further investigations are warranted looking at the impacts of availability and access to a HFN in primary care on readmissions and other patient outcomes.