- Title
- The TrueBlue model of collaborative care using practice nurses as case managers for depression alongside diabetes or heart disease: a randomised trial
- Creator
- Morgan, Mark A. J.; Coates, Michael J.; Dunbar, James A.; Reddy, Prasuna; Schlicht, Kate; Fuller, Jeff
- Relation
- beyondblue
- Relation
- BMJ Open Vol. 3
- Publisher Link
- http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2012-002171
- Publisher
- BMJ Group
- Resource Type
- journal article
- Date
- 2013
- Description
- Objectives: To determine the effectiveness of collaborative care in reducing depression in primary care patients with diabetes or heart disease using practice nurses as case managers. Design: A two-arm open randomised cluster trial with wait-list control for 6 months. The intervention was followed over 12 months. Setting: Eleven Australian general practices, five randomly allocated to the intervention and six to the control. Participants: 400 primary care patients (206 intervention, 194 control) with depression and type 2 diabetes, coronary heart disease or both. Intervention: The practice nurse acted as a case manager identifying depression, reviewing pathology results, lifestyle risk factors and patient goals and priorities. Usual care continued in the controls. Main outcome measure: A five-point reduction in depression scores for patients with moderate-to-severe depression. Secondary outcome was improvements in physiological measures. Results: Mean depression scores after 6 months of intervention for patients with moderate-to-severe depression decreased by 5.7±1.3 compared with 4.3±1.2 in control, a significant (p=0.012) difference. (The plus–minus is the 95% confidence range.) Intervention practices demonstrated adherence to treatment guidelines and intensification of treatment for depression, where exercise increased by 19%, referrals to exercise programmes by 16%, referrals to mental health workers (MHWs) by 7% and visits to MHWs by 17%. Control-practice exercise did not change, whereas referrals to exercise programmes dropped by 5% and visits to MHWs by 3%. Only referrals to MHW increased by 12%. Intervention improvements were sustained over 12 months, with a significant (p=0.015) decrease in 10-year cardiovascular disease risk from 27.4±3.4% to 24.8±3.8%. A review of patients indicated that the study's safety protocols were followed. Conclusions: TrueBlue participants showed significantly improved depression and treatment intensification, sustained over 12 months of intervention and reduced 10-year cardiovascular disease risk. Collaborative care using practice nurses appears to be an effective primary care intervention.
- Subject
- depression; diabetes; heart disease; practice nurses; TrueBlue
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/1959.13/1054287
- Identifier
- uon:15730
- Identifier
- ISSN:2044-6055
- Language
- eng
- Full Text
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