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Telemedically Supported Case Management of Living‐Donor Renal Transplant Recipients to Optimize Routine Evidence‐Based Aftercare: A Single‐Center Randomized Controlled Trial
Author(s) -
Schmid A.,
Hils S.,
KramerZucker A.,
Bogatyreva L.,
Hauschke D.,
De Geest S.,
Pisarski P.
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
american journal of transplantation
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.89
H-Index - 188
eISSN - 1600-6143
pISSN - 1600-6135
DOI - 10.1111/ajt.14138
Subject(s) - medicine , randomized controlled trial , quality of life (healthcare) , transplantation , intervention (counseling) , nephrology , single center , clinical trial , physical therapy , intensive care medicine , emergency medicine , family medicine , nursing
Improving mid‐term and long‐term outcomes after solid organ transplantation is imperative, and requires both state‐of‐the‐art transplant surgery and optimization of routine, evidence‐based aftercare. This randomized, controlled trial assessed the effectiveness of standard aftercare versus telemedically supported case management, an innovative aftercare model, in 46 living‐donor renal transplant recipients during the first posttransplant year. The model includes three components: (i) chronic care case management initiated after discharge, (ii) case management initiated in emerging acute care situations, and (iii) a telemedically equipped team comprising a transplant nurse case manager and two senior transplant physicians (nephrologist, surgeon). Analyses revealed a reduction of unplanned inpatient acute care, with considerable cost reductions, in the intervention group. The prevalence of nonadherence over the 1‐year study period was 17.4% in the intervention group versus 56.5% in the standard aftercare group (p = 0.013). Only the intervention group achieved their pre‐agreed levels of adherence, disease‐specific quality of life, and return to employment. This comparative effectiveness study provides the basis for multicenter study testing of telemedically supported case management with the aim of optimizing posttransplant aftercare. The trial was registered with the German Clinical Trials Register ( www.DRKS.de ), DKRS 00007634.