title: Nursing role to improve care to infarct patients and patients undergoing heart surgery: 10 years' experience.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The nurse practitioner may be the ideal healthcare worker to create a new environment and may facilitate in the process of expediting discharge and improving patient safety. They can play an intermediary role between the consultants, nurses and patients, thereby combining the aspects of care (nursing) and cure (physicians).
  
  
  METHODS
  We describe the contribution and role of the nurse practitioner in a teaching hospital and provide an overview of the changes in care and cure that were facilitated by two nurse practitioners in the treatment of cardiac surgery patients or non-complicated acute coronary syndrome patients.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The nurse-led clinic for postoperative patients has registered 1967 patients in the past 10 years. These patients were transferred at a mean of 5.5 days after their bypass operation. All patients had an uneventful clinical course in our hospital and were discharged alive. The period between discharge and outpatient clinic visit could be set at 4 weeks.                         The post-acute coronary syndrome (ACS) group included 1236 patients. Mortality in this patient cohort was 4% while 0.4% of these patients experienced a re-myocardial infarction. Additional surgery was needed in only 2% of these stable post-infarction patients. The mean length of stay was 5.9 ± 14.5 days.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This observational study confirms that a nurse-led postoperative care unit and post-ACS care unit is feasible and effective for the treatment of patients returning from cardiac surgery or transferred after uncomplicated ACS to a general cardiology ward.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiology, Medical Centre Alkmaar, Alkmaar, the Netherlands.
authors.forename: M A M
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Wit
authors.forename: A J C M
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Bos-Schaap
authors.forename: R W M
authors.initials: RW
authors.lastname: Hautvast
authors.forename: A A C M
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Heestermans
authors.forename: V A W M
authors.initials: VA
authors.lastname: Umans