Outcomes of nurse practitioner-led care in patients with cardiovascular disease: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

Aim: To assess randomized controlled trials evaluating the impact of nurse practitioner-led cardiovascular care.

Background: Systematic review of nurse practitioner-led care in patients with cardiovascular disease has not been completed.

Design: Systematic review and meta-analysis.

Measuring the effect of nurse practitioner (NP)-led care on health-related quality of life in adult patients with atrial fibrillation: study protocol for a randomized controlled trial.

Background: Atrial fibrillation (AF) is a common arrhythmia associated with significant morbidity, mortality, and healthcare resource use. The prevalence of AF is increasing with a growing and aging population, and timely access to care for these patients is a concern. Nontraditional models of care delivery, such as nurse practitioner (NP)-led clinics, may improve access to care and quality of care, but they require formal assessment.

Cardiac EASE (Ensuring Access and Speedy Evaluation) - the impact of a single-point-of-entry multidisciplinary outpatient cardiology consultation program on wait times in Canada.

Background: Universal access to health care is valued in Canada but increasing wait times for services (eg, cardiology consultation) raise safety questions. Observations suggest that deficiencies in the process of care contribute to wait times. Consequently, an outpatient clinic was designed for Ensuring Access and Speedy Evaluation (Cardiac EASE) in a university group practice, providing cardiac consultative services for northern Alberta.

Cardiac EASE (Ensuring Access and Speedy Evaluation)--design of a single point of entry and a multidisciplinary team to reduce waiting times in the Canadian health care system.

Out-patient cardiac consultation in academic group practices often lacks a coordinated intake process, making it difficult to perform prospective testing or to direct undifferentiated consultations to the cardiologist with the shortest waiting list. We created a programmatic approach, with a single point of entry to improve the efficiency of cardiology consultation, without departing from the Canada Health Act. The purpose of this paper is to describe the design of Cardiac EASE.