Specialist intervention is associated with improved patient outcomes in patients with decompensated heart failure: evaluation of the impact of a multidisciplinary inpatient heart failure team

Objective The study aimed to evaluate the impact of a multidisciplinary inpatient heart failure team (HFT) on treatment, hospital readmissions and mortality of patients with decompensated heart failure (HF). Methods A retrospective service evaluation was undertaken in a UK tertiary centre university hospital comparing 196 patients admitted with HF in the 6 months prior to the introduction of the HFT (pre-HFT) with all 211 patients seen by the HFT (post-HFT) during its first operational year. Results There were no significant differences in patient baseline characteristics between the groups. Inpatient mortality (22% pre-HFT vs 6% post-HFT; p The mean length of stay (17±19 days pre-HFT vs 19±18 days post-HFT; p=0.06), 1-year all-cause readmission rates (46% pre-HFT vs 47% post-HFT; p=0.82) and HF readmission rates (28% pre-HFT vs 20% post-HFT; p=0.09) were not different between the groups. Conclusions The introduction of a specialist inpatient HFT was associated with improved patient outcome. Inpatient and 1-year mortality were significantly reduced. Improved use of evidence-based drug therapies, more intensive diuretic use and multidisciplinary care may contribute to these differences in outcome.