The impact of nurse-led community-based models of care on hospital admission rates in heart failure patients: An integrative review

Background: Community-based nurse-led interventions have the potential to impact admission rates in Heart Failure (HF) patients. No reviews have focused on identifying the best combination or duration of interventions to reduced hospital admissions. Objective: To assess the impact of nurse-led community-based interventions on hospital admission rates in HF patients. Methods: This study was conducted following Whittmore and Knafl's Methodology. CINAHL, PubMed, Embase and Web of Science and hand searching were used to identify articles. Selected studies were analyzed using the Matrix Method. Results: Telemonitoring, home visits, phone calls, care coordination, and telemedicine were identified as interventions in 10 studies. Telemonitoring with phone calls or care coordination was not impactful. Studies with significant results included those with multiple interventions, APN-led, or conducted over one year. Conclusions: The combination of intervention type and length are important factors when designing interventions for HF management. More research is needed on intervention length.