RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Description and development of a nurse-led cardiac assessment team
JF Future Healthcare Journal
JO Future Healthc J
FD Royal College of Physicians
SP 78
OP 83
DO 10.7861/fhj.2018-0078
VO 7
IS 1
A1 Chun Shing Kwok
A1 Tamara Naneishvili
A1 Sonia Curry
A1 Charlotte Aston
A1 Michelle Beeston
A1 Sarah Chell
A1 James Cripps
A1 Bob Gunter
A1 Debbie Jackson
A1 Diane Thomas
A1 Angela Jones
A1 Helen Bethell
A1 Kully Sandhu
A1 Dot Morgan-Smith
A1 Rhys Beynon
YR 2020
UL http://www.rcpjournals.org/content/7/1/78.abstract
AB A problem was identified where patient care was affected because of delays in receiving specialist cardiology input. This report describes the experience of developing a specialist cardiac assessment where senior cardiac nurses were trained to provide a 24-hour presence in the emergency department (ED). We describe the service and our evaluation of the service. These dedicated specialised nurses can optimise patient management including admission or safely discharge patients with relevant follow-up when necessary. The team also runs three clinics per week with consultant support. The team of 10 nurses provides a cardiology opinion to approximately 400 patients a month in the ED and 100 patients a month in the acute medical unit (AMU). Eighty-seven per cent of patients are seen in the ED within 30 minutes of referral. Approximately 40% of patients reviewed are accepted directly into cardiology beds thus avoiding admission to the AMU. It has been estimated that 6 bed-days are saved each day, which translated to an estimated £400,000 each year. The team also provides outpatient rapid access services which generates £121,792 income for the directorate. We demonstrate that a cardiac nurse assessment team can provide a cost-effective 24-hour presence in the ED.