Extending the Nurse Practitioner Concurrent Intervention Model to Community-Acquired Pneumonia and Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease

Article-at-a-Glance Background A Nurse Practitioner (NP) Concurrent Intervention Model shown effective for controlling telemetry usage was extended to patients with community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) and patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Methods In spring 2000, investigators at Hackensack University Medical Center and the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey–New Jersey Medical School began an intervention to increase compliance with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) performance measures for CAP. Cost-reduction efforts were introduced by using previously described criteria for switching from intravenous to oral medication and for hospital discharge. Results Use of the NP intervention model for patients admitted with CAP and for COPD patients resulted in significant reductions in length of stay and cost savings. Discussion Concurrent intervention by a nurse practitioner can help achieve excellent compliance with performance measures for CAP and be applied to other chronic respiratory diseases such as COPD.