A Systematic Review to enquire is ANP care more Effective for the Cardiac Surgery Patient, compared to Standard Care?

Purpose: This systematic review was performed to answer the question; is Advanced Nurse Practitioner (ANP) care more effective for the cardiac surgery patient, compared to standard care? The objectives were firstly, to... [ view full abstract ]

Purpose: This systematic review was performed to answer the question; is Advanced Nurse Practitioner (ANP) care more effective for the cardiac surgery patient, compared to standard care? The objectives were firstly, to compare care delivered by the ANP to physicians or other models of care and secondly, to evaluate are there any added benefits to having an ANP in the cardiac surgery setting
Methods: A comprehensive search was performed and based on this, studies were methodically selected. Quality appraisal was conducted using the Cochrane Collaboration Risk of Bias Tool. Data were extracted using the modified Cochrane pregnancy and childbirth form, then synthesised using Cochrane Revman software.
Results: After an extensive and thorough search, three randomised controlled trials (RCTs) that met the inclusion criteria were found for the review. The three Canadian studies were by Goldie et al. (2012), Sawatzky et al.(2013) and Tranmer & Parry (2004). Of these, two had a high Risk of Bias and one had a low Risk of Bias. The findings of this review show within areas that are grounded in nursing such as education, preparedness for intervention/discharge and perception of being well cared for, there were statistically significant differences favouring the ANP.
Conclusions: The ANP role has evolved to incorporate the therapeutic model of medicine with the caring model of nursing. Evidence is emerging of the effectiveness of the ANP care for the cardiac surgery patient, but there is an ongoing need for it to be fully established. The endeavour remains, to perform rigorous research including more good quality RCTs to offer evidence of this effectiveness. From this systematic review the results are positive. There are added benefits to having an ANP in the cardiac surgery and the care delivered by the ANP is equivalent or better compared to standard care.