Research Brief: Rural Hospital Collaborative and HF Outcomes

This week, we'd like you to introduce you to a team of researchers at the University of Maryland and Johns Hopkins University, led by Robin Newhouse and Laura Morlock.  This team conducted a study which identified the linkages between processes of nursing care and the quality of patient outcomes, while also addressing the pressing need for mentorship in implementing evidence-based heart failure (HF) care in rural hospitals. The team conducted a randomized control trial with twenty three rural hospitals from five states in the eastern United States. In the course of their project, the team found that heart failure core measures improved significantly between 2007 and 2009, but that nursing support and staffing does not predict core measure improvement. Heart failure core measures are reported by acute care hospitals as a measure of quality care for HF patients. They found that there is no relationship between the smoking cessation core measure, nursing smoking cessation counseling activity, and patient intent to quit smoking. Finally, they found that nurses in better practice environments use more evidence-based smoking cessation interventions. This study is one of the first to focus on linkages between rural nursing and patient outcomes, and has affected the engagement of nurses in 23 rural hospitals in improvements in heart failure care. Qualitative evidence suggests profound changes in the uptake of evidence and the formation of multidisciplinary teams.

Access the research brief.

This post is part of a series to provide the public with research briefs on INQRI-funded projects across a range of interests.