title: Nurse-led follow-up of patients after oesophageal or gastric cardia cancer surgery: a randomised trial.
abstract: Between January 2004 and February 2006, 109 patients after intentionally curative surgery for oesophageal or gastric cardia cancer were randomised to standard follow-up of surgeons at the outpatient clinic (standard follow-up; n=55) or by regular home visits of a specialist nurse (nurse-led follow-up; n=54). Longitudinal data on generic (EuroQuol-5D, European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) QLQ-C30) and disease-specific quality of life (EORTC QLQ-OES18), patient satisfaction and costs were collected at baseline and at 6 weeks and 4, 7 and 13 months afterwards. We found largely similar quality-of-life scores in the two follow-up groups over time. At 4 and 7 months, slightly more improvement on the EQ-VAS was noted in the nurse-led compared with the standard follow-up group (P=0.13 and 0.12, respectively). Small differences were also found in patient satisfaction between the two groups (P=0.14), with spouses being more satisfied with nurse-led follow-up (P=0.03). No differences were found in most medical outcomes. However, body weight of patients of the standard follow-up group deteriorated slightly (P=0.04), whereas body weight of patients of the nurse-led follow-up group remained stable. Medical costs were lower in the nurse-led follow-up group (2600 euro vs 3800 euro), however, due to the large variation between patients, this was not statistically significant (P=0.11). A cost effectiveness acceptability curve showed that the probability of being cost effective for costs per one point gain in general quality-of-life exceeded 90 and 75% after 4 and 13 months of follow-up, respectively. Nurse-led follow-up at home does not adversely affect quality of life or satisfaction of patients compared with standard follow-up by clinicians at the outpatient clinic. This type of care is very likely to be more cost effective than physician-led follow-up.
authors.affiliation: Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Erasmus MC University Medical Centre Rotterdam, Rotterdam, The Netherlands. emlvers@wxs.nl
authors.forename: E M L
authors.initials: EM
authors.lastname: Verschuur
authors.forename: E W
authors.initials: EW
authors.lastname: Steyerberg
authors.forename: H W
authors.initials: HW
authors.lastname: Tilanus
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Polinder
authors.forename: M-L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Essink-Bot
authors.forename: K T C
authors.initials: KT
authors.lastname: Tran
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: van der Gaast
authors.forename: L P S
authors.initials: LP
authors.lastname: Stassen
authors.forename: E J
authors.initials: EJ
authors.lastname: Kuipers
authors.forename: P D
authors.initials: PD
authors.lastname: Siersema
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D002299:Cardia; D004938:Esophageal Neoplasms / Q000523:psychology / Q000601:surgery*; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D017048:Health Care Costs; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009726:Nurses; D010147:Pain Measurement; D017060:Patient Satisfaction; D011788:Quality of Life; D013274:Stomach Neoplasms / Q000523:psychology / Q000601:surgery*