Nurse-led care involving education and engagement of patients improved the treat-to-target urate-lowering treatment strategy for gout / 中国实用护理杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective:To explore the efficacy of doctor-nurse co-led care involving education and engagement of patients on improving compliance of patients, and a treat-to-target urate-lowering rate for gout.Methods:Nurses were trained in practice management of gout. Patients diagnosed with gout in the departments of rheumatology and immunology of Anqing Municipal Hospital in Anhui Province were prospectively enrolled from January 1 to June 30, 2019. The patients were divided into the continuous-care group and the conventional management group by random number table method. The patients of continuous-care group received telephone follow-up, WeChat tracking and regular face-to-face communication. The patients of conventional management group were told to follow up regularly in the outpatient department, and the nurses did not follow up. Patients were evaluated before intervention and 12 months after intervention. The treat-to-target rate of blood uric acid and the frequency of gout flares were observed.Results:After 12 months of intervention, the patients of serum uric acid concentrations below 360 μmol/L were 92.39% (85/92) in the continuous-care group, and 26.74% (23/86) in the conventional management group. There was significant difference ( χ2 value was 80.282, P<0.001). After 12 months of intervention, the average serum uric acid concentration of patients in the continuous-care group was (301.6±61.4) μmol/L, and that in the conventional management group was (419.0±98.0) μmol/L, both of which were significantly lower than before intervention, continuous-care group (466.1±119.7) μmol/L, conventional management group (477.8±113.1) μmol/L. But the average serum uric acid concentration of patients in the continuous-care group was significantly lower than that in the conventional management group. There was significant difference between them ( t value was 96.678, P<0.001). At the end of 12 months, the patients of uric-acid-lowering therapy increased in both groups. The proportion of patients was 94.56% (87/92) in the continuous-care group, which was significantly higher than that in the conventional management group (58.14%, 50/86), there was significant difference ( χ2 value was 33.260, P<0.001). Conclusions:The mode of continuing nursing combined with specialized physician-led treatment can significantly improve the compliance and the control rate of treat-to-target for gout, and this management method is simple and feasible which provides a new management concept for clinical treatment of gout.