Effect of implementing a heart failure admission care bundle on hospital readmission and mortality rates: interrupted time series study.

This study aimed to evaluate the impact of developing and implementing a care bundle intervention to improve care for patients with acute heart failure admitted to a large London hospital. The intervention comprised three elements, targeted within 24 hours of admission: N-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) test, transthoracic Doppler two-dimensional echocardiography and specialist review by cardiology team. The SHIFT-Evidence approach to quality improvement was used.

Description and development of a nurse-led cardiac assessment team.

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.