Heart Failure
Conditions
Keywords
Heart failure, Nurse led, Outpatient clinic, Echocardiography, Pocket-size, Ultrasound
Brief summary
Cross-over study aimed to study the diagnostic and clinical impact of routinely adding a pocket-size ultrasound examination to traditional care at a outpatient heart failure clinic.
Detailed description
Patient inclusion: Outpatient heart failure clinic. Patients are eligible for inclusion if the are referred with heart failure and concent to participate in the study. No other exclusion criteria other than no willing/able to give their concent. Study population: Approximately 80 patients Intervention: All participants will undergo careful medical history, physical examination and blood tests led by nurses. All patients will be examined twice (by two nurses), one will routinely add ultrasound examination of the pleural space and the inferior vena cava to assess volume state, the other nurse will not perform ultrasound examination. Full cross-over design were nurses do ultrasound examinations at a random matter. Patients will then be examined by echocardiography by experience cardiologist's echocardiographers. Outcome measures:Change in therapy after routinely performed ultrasound examinations vs controls, detection of volume state when performing ultrasound examinations compared to controls with cardiologist's echocardiographic examination as a gold standard. Descriptive data of patients before, under and after examinations.
Interventions
PROCEDUREUltrasound examination by nurses
Ultrasound examination performed by nurses. Focused examination of the pleural space and inferior vena cava.
Sponsors
Helse Nord-Trøndelag HF
Study design
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Intervention model
CROSSOVER
Primary purpose
DIAGNOSTIC
Masking
NONE
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
ALL
Healthy volunteers
No
Inclusion criteria
* Patients referred to the outpatient heart failure clinic at the local hospital
Exclusion criteria
* Not able or not willing to concent
Design outcomes
Primary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Treatment effect | 0 and 30 days and 6 months | Change in treatment after routinely performed ultrasound vs no ultrasound performed. |
Secondary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Quality of nurse performed ultrasound | 0 and 30 days and 6 months | Validation of nurse driven ultrasound. Measures of detection of volume state and specific ultrasonographic measurements compared to reference method (cardiologist performer ultrasound). |
Other
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| proBNP vs ultrasound | 0 and 30 days | Study of which variable that best predicts the clinical treatment of the population |
Countries
Norway
Outcome results
None listed