Randomized controlled trial of anticipatory and preventive multidisciplinary team care: for complex patients in a community-based primary care setting.
T o examine whether quality of care (QOC) improves when nurse practitioners and pharmacists work with family physicians in community practice and focus their work on patients who are 50 years of age and older and considered to be at risk of experiencing adverse health outcomes.
Randomized controlled trial.
A family health network with 8 family physicians, 5 nurses, and 11 administrative personnel serving 10 000 patients in a rural area near Ottawa, Ont.
Patients 50 years of age and older at risk of experiencing adverse health outcomes (N = 241).
At-risk patients were randomly assigned to receive usual care from their family physicians or Anticipatory and Preventive Team Care (APTCare) from a collaborative team composed of their physicians, 1 of 3 nurse practitioners, and a pharmacist.
Quality of care for chronic disease management (CDM) for diabetes, coronary artery disease, congestive heart failure, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
Controlling for baseline demographic characteristics, the APTCare approach improved CDM QOC by 9.2% (P
