Nurse specialist care for bronchiectasis

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Nurse specialist care for bronchiectasis

Updated
Authors: 
Lawton K, Royals K, Carson-Chahhoud KV, Campbell F, Smith BJ

Background

Bronchiectasis is a long-term lung disease. The main symptom is cough that produces phlegm and results in recurrent chest infections. As the disease gets worse, people have poor quality of life and eventually may develop respiratory failure – a condition in which the body is not able to control oxygen and carbon dioxide levels properly.

Review question

We wanted to find out if nurses are able to manage the care of people with bronchiectasis as well as doctors. We looked for randomised controlled trials comparing nurse-led care with doctor-led care.

Study characteristics

We found one study from the United Kingdom involving 80 people with bronchiectasis. The study was completed in 2002, when management of bronchiectasis was different from today. Participants were divided into two groups: One group of outpatients was observed for a 12-month period under the care of the specialist nurse, and the other under care of the doctor. After 12 months, these participants swapped groups.

Key results

We found no significant differences between nurse-led and doctor-led care in terms of lung function, infective flareups (exacerbations), or quality of life. In the first year of the study we noted increased costs for nurse-led care with more hospital admissions and greater use of antibiotic injections.

Certainty of evidence

The certainty of evidence in the one included study was satisfactory, given that the study design meant participants knew which group they belonged to.

Bottom line

More research is required to determine how nurse specialists compare with doctors in providing safe and effective treatment for patients with stable bronchiectasis.

This Cochrane plain language summary was up-to-date as of March 2018.

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