Clinical- and cost-effectiveness of a nurse led self-management intervention to reduce emergency visits by people with epilepsy.

ABSTRACT: People with chronic epilepsy (PWE) often make costly, and clinically unnecessary emergency department (ED) visits. Some do it frequently. No studies have examined interventions to reduce them. An intervention delivered by an epilepsy nurse specialist (ENS) might reduce visits. The rationale is it may optimize patients' self-management skills and knowledge of appropriate ED use. We examined such an intervention's clinical- and cost-effectiveness. Eighty-five adults with epilepsy were recruited from three London EDs with similar catchment populations. Forty-one PWE recruited from two EDs received treatment-as-usual (TAU) and formed the comparison group. The remaining 44 PWE were recruited from the ED of a hospital that had implemented a new ENS service for PWE attending ED. These participant

SUBMITTER: Noble AJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3948384 | biostudies-literature | 2014

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature