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Table 3 Patient health and service outcomes between the NC and non-NC care cohorts

From: The impact on patient health and service outcomes of introducing nurse consultants: a historically matched controlled study

 

NC care

Non- NC care

p-value#

Service outcomes

         

Number of Accident & Emergency visits in the first six months after the indexed hospital admission*

0

1

2

≥ 3

0

1

2

≥ 3

 

   All specialties

133 (95.0%)

6 (4.3%)

1 (0.7%)

0

107 (76.4%)

20 (14.3%)

10 (7.1%)

3 (2.1%)

<0.001

   Diabetes

39 (97.5%)

1 (2.5%)

0

0

34 (85.0%)

4 (10.0%)

2 (5.0%)

0

0.053

   Renal

37 (92.5%)

3 (7.5%)

0

0

18 (45.0%)

13 (32.5%)

8 (20.0%)

1 (2.5%)

<0.001

   Wound & stoma care

20 (100.0%)

0

0

0

20 (100.0%)

0

0

0

   Psychiatrics

19 (95.0%)

1 (5.0%)

0

0

16 (80.0%)

3 (15.0%)

0

1 (5.0%)

0.157

   Continence

18 (90.0%)

1 (5.0%)

1 (5.0%)

0

19 (95.0%)

0

0

1 (5.0%)

0.999

Number of hospital admissions in the first six months after the indexed hospital admission*

0

1

2

≥ 3

0

1

2

≥ 3

 

   All specialties

133 (95.0%)

7 (5.0%)

0

0

100 (71.4%)

27 (19.3%)

11 (7.9%)

2 (1.4%)

<0.001

   Diabetes

38 (95.0%)

2 (5.0%)

0

0

31 (77.5%)

7 (17.5%)

2 (5.0%)

0

0.029

   Renal

37 (92.5%)

3 (7.5%)

0

0

18 (45.0%)

13 (32.5%)

8 (20.0%)

1 (2.5%)

<0.001

   Wound & stoma care

20 (100.0%)

0

0

0

20 (100.0%)

0

0

0

   Psychiatrics

19 (95.0%)

1 (5.0%)

0

0

13 (65.0%)

5 (25.0%)

1 (5.0%)

1 (5.0%)

0.034

   Continence

19 (95.0%)

1 (5.0%)

0

0

18 (90.0%)

2 (10.0%)

0

0

0.317

Length of hospital stay among those who had re-admitted to hospital in the first six months after the indexed hospital admission (days) ψ

Median (range)

Median (range)

 

   All specialties

2 (1 – 17)

15 (1 – 88)

0.001a

   Diabetes

2 (1 – 2)

6 (2 – 17)

0.017a

   Renal

1 ( 1 – 7)

16 (4 – 88)

<0.001a

   Wound & stoma care

   Psychiatrics

17 (17 – 17)

41 (9 – 72)

0.091a

   Continence

2 (2 – 2)

2 (1 – 2)

0.799a

Number of acute complications during the hospital stay of the indexed admission*

0

1

2

≥ 3

0

1

2

≥ 3

 

   All specialties

81 (81.0%)

9 (9.0%)

7 (7.0%)

3 (3.0%)

64 (64.0%)

24 (24.0%)

9 (9.0%)

3 (3.0%)

0.112

   Diabetes

33 (82.5%)

5 (12.5%)

2 (5.0%)

0

33 (82.5%)

6 (15.0%)

1 (2.5%)

0

0.813

   Renal

37 (92.5%)

3 (7.5%)

0

0

15 (37.5%)

15 (37.5%)

8 (20.0%)

2 (5.0%)

<0.001

   Wound & stoma care

   Psychiatrics

   Continence

11 (55.0%)

1 (5.0%)

5 (25.0%)

3 (15.0%)

16 (80.0%)

3 (15.0%)

0

1 (5.0%)

0.058

Number of times of treatment / medication regimen altered by nurses according to patients’ condition during the hospital stay of the indexed admission*

0

1

2

≥ 3

0

1

2

≥ 3

 

   All specialties

24 (24.0%)

36 (36.0%)

27 (27.0%)

13 (13.0%)

66 (66.0%)

19 (19.0%)

11 (11.0%)

4 (4.0%)

<0.001

   Diabetes

6 (15.0%)

21 (52.5%)

12 (30.0%)

1 (2.5%)

23 (57.5%)

6 (15.0%)

9 (22.5%)

2 (5.0%)

0.004

   Renal

9 (22.5%)

10 (25.0%)

11 (27.5%)

10 (25.0%)

36 (90.0%)

4 (10.0%)

0

0

<0.001

   Wound & stoma care

   Psychiatrics

   Continence

9 (45.0%)

5 (25.0%)

4 (20.0%)

2 (10.0%)

7 (35.0%)

9 (45.0%)

2 (10.0%)

2 (10.0%)

0.861

Health outcomes

   

Diabetes specialty

Mean (standard deviation)

Mean (standard deviation)

 

   HbA1c level (%) [pre]

10.0 (1.9)

9.4 (2.2)

0.156b

   Hba1c level (%) [post]

8.2 (1.4)

9.2 (1.8)

0.006b

   Change of HbA1c level (%) [post – pre]

-1.8 (1.7)

-0.2 (1.9)

<0.001b

Renal specialty

Mean (standard deviation)

Mean (standard deviation)

 

   Urea level (mmol/L)

21.7 (8.1)

26.2 (10.4)

0.034b

   Urea creatinine ratio

27.0 (10.5)

34.8 (12.4)

0.001b

Wound & stoma care specialty

Median (range)

Median (range)

 

   Number of dressings for wound healed ψ

7 (1 – 26)

28 (12 – 77)

<0.001

  1. Data marked with are presented as mean (standard deviation) and with ψ as median (interquartile range), all others are presented as frequency (%). *These continuous variables with only a few discrete values are presented by frequency and percentage instead of median (range) or mean (standard deviation).
  2. # All the comparisons were assessed using Wilicoxon signed-rank test, unless specified otherwise.
  3. a Mann–Whitney test for the subgroup analysis of the length of hospital stay for those who had re-admitted to hospital in the first six months after the indexed hospital admission between the two cohorts (totally 7 and 40 patients respectively among the 140 patients in each of the NC and non-NC care cohorts).
  4. b Paired t-test.