However , there were no consistent relationships observed between intervention characteristics and the effects of interventions .
Most trials review ed demonstrated a beneficial impact of nursing interventions for secondary prevention in patients with CAD or heart failure .
OBJECTIVE This systematic review of recent r and omized trials was conducted to determine if cardiovascular nursing interventions improve outcomes in patients with coronary artery disease ( CAD ) and /or heart failure .
Randomized, Controlled Evaluation of Short- and Long-Term Benefits of Heart Failure Disease Management Within a Diverse Provider Network: The SPAN-CHF Trial
Background —Several trials support the usefulness of disease management ( DM ) for improving clinical outcomes in heart failure ( HF ) . Most of these studies are limited by small sample size ; absence of concurrent , r and omized controls ; limited follow-up ; restriction to urban academic centers ; and low baseline use of effective medications . Methods and Results —We performed a prospect i ve , r and omized assessment of the effectiveness of HF DM delivered for 90 days across a diverse provider network in a heterogeneous population of 200 patients with high baseline use of approved HF pharmacotherapy . During a 90-day follow-up , patients r and omized to DM experienced fewer hospitalizations for HF [ primary end point , 0.55±0.15 per patient-year alive versus 1.14±0.22 per patient-year alive in control subjects ; relative risk ( RR ) , 0.48 , P=0.027 ] . Intervention patients experienced reductions in hospital days related to a primary diagnosis of HF ( 4.3±0.4 versus 7.8±0.6 days hospitalized per patient-year ; RR , 0.54 ; P<0.001 ) , cardiovascular hospitalizations ( 0.81±0.19 versus 1.43±0.24 per patient-year alive ; RR , 0.57 ; P=0.043 ) , and days in hospital per patient-year alive for cardiovascular cause ( RR , 0.64 ; P<0.001 ) . Intervention patients showed a trend toward reduced all-cause hospitalizations and total hospital days . On long-term ( mean , 283 days ) follow-up , there was substantial attrition of the 3-month gain in outcomes , with sustained significant reduction only in days in hospital for cardiac cause . Conclusions —In a population with high background use of st and ard HF therapy  , a DM intervention , uniformly delivered across varied clinical sites , produced significant short-term improvement in HF-related clinical outcomes . Longer-term benefit likely requires more active chronic intervention , even among patients who appear clinical ly stable
However , there were no consistent relationships observed between intervention characteristics and the effects of interventions .
Most trials review ed demonstrated a beneficial impact of nursing interventions for secondary prevention in patients with CAD or heart failure .
OBJECTIVE This systematic review of recent r and omized trials was conducted to determine if cardiovascular nursing interventions improve outcomes in patients with coronary artery disease ( CAD ) and /or heart failure .