Ja. West et al., A COMPREHENSIVE MANAGEMENT-SYSTEM FOR HEART-FAILURE IMPROVES CLINICALOUTCOMES AND REDUCES MEDICAL RESOURCE UTILIZATION, The American journal of cardiology, 79(1), 1997, pp. 58-63
The effectiveness of heart failure management in clinical practice is
limited by physicians' suboptimal utilization of effective medications
, patients' poor adherence to dietary sodium limitation and optimal dr
ug therapy, and the lack of systematic monitoring of patients after ho
spitalization. The present study evaluated the feasibility and safety
of MULTIFIT, a physician-supervised, nurse-mediated, home-based system
for heart failure management that implements consensus guidelines for
pharmacologic and dietary therapy using a nurse manager to enhance di
etary and pharmacologic adherence and to monitor clinical status by fr
equent telephone contact. Fifty-one patients with the clinical diagnos
is of heart failure were followed for 138 +/- 44 days. Daily dietary s
odium intake fell by 38%, from 3,393 to 2,088 mg (p = 0.0001); overage
daily medication doses increased significantly (lisinopril: 17 to 23
mg, p < 0.001; hydralazine: 140 to 252 mg, p = 0.01). Functional state
s and exercise capacity improved significantly (p = 0.01). Compared wi
th the 6 months before enrollment and normalized for variable follow-u
p, the frequency of general medical and cardiology visits declined by
23% and 31%, respectively (both p < 0.03); emergency room visits for h
eart failure and for all causes declined 67% and 53%, respectively (bo
th p < 0.001). Hospitalization rates for heart failure and for all cau
ses declined 87% and 74%, respectively (p = 0.001), compared with the
year before enrollment. The MULTIFIT system enhanced the effectiveness
of pharmacologic and dietary therapy for heart failure in clinical pr
actice, improving clinical outcomes and reducing medical resource util
ization. (C) 1997 by Excerpta Medica, Inc.