Outpatient Interventions for Managing Acute Complications of Chronic Diseases: A Scoping Review and Implications for Patients With CKD.

Rationale & Objective: Patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) have high rates of emergency department (ED) use and hospitalization. Outpatient care may provide an alternative to ED and inpatient care in this population. We aimed to explore the scope of outpatient interventions used to manage acute complications of chronic diseases and highlight opportunities to adapt and test interventions in the CKD population.

Study Design: Scoping review of quantitative and qualitative studies.

Setting & Population: Outpatient interventions for adults experiencing acute complications related to 1 of 5 eligible chronic diseases (ie, CKD, chronic respiratory disease, cardiovascular disease, cancer, and diabetes).

Selection Criteria For Studies: MEDLINE, EMBASE, CINAHL, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, grey literature, and conference abstracts were searched to December 2019.

Data Extraction: Intervention and study characteristics were extracted using standardized tools.

Analytical Approach: Quantitative data were summarized descriptively; qualitative data were summarized thematically. Our approach observed the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analyses (PRISMA) extension for scoping reviews.

Results: 77 studies (25 randomized controlled trials, 29 observational, 12 uncontrolled before-after, 5 quasi-experimental, 4 qualitative, and 2 mixed method) describing 57 unique interventions were included. Of identified intervention types (hospital at home [n = 16], observation unit [n = 9], ED-based specialist service [n = 4], ambulatory program [n = 18], and telemonitoring [n = 10]), most were studied in chronic respiratory and cardiovascular disease populations. None targeted the CKD population. Interventions were delivered in the home, ED, hospital, and ambulatory setting by a variety of health care providers. Cost savings were demonstrated for most interventions, although improvements in other outcome domains were not consistently observed.

Limitations: Heterogeneity of included studies; lack of data for outpatient interventions for acute complications related to CKD.

Conclusions: Several interventions for outpatient management of acute complications of chronic disease were identified. Although none was specific to the CKD population, features could be adapted and tested to address the complex acute-care needs of patients with CKD.