Growth, Parkinson's, pain

Nurse care improves control of chronic conditions

Ann Intern Med (2014) doi: 10.7326/M13-2567

Nurses can improve control of glycaemia, blood pressure and lipids by titrating medication, according to a new meta-analysis.

During each of the 18 studies included in the meta-analysis, a nurse titrated medications by following a protocol. In 17 studies, usual care acted as the control. The meta-analysis reported that haemoglobin A1c decreased by 0.4% in patients managed by nurses compared with controls. Systolic and diastolic blood pressure decreased by 3.68 and 1.56 mmHg respectively. Total and low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol decreased by 0.24 mmol/L (9.37 mg/dL) and 0.31 mmol/L (12.07 mg/dL) respectively.