099 Do clinical nurse specialist led stroke follow-up clinics reduce post-stroke hospital readmissions and recurrent vascular events?

Introduction Post-discharge stroke follow-up clinics have been associated with improved outpatient care and reduced readmission. Pre-2014 there was no consistent follow-up care offered at Wellington Hospital. Our aim was to determine whether the establishment of a clinical nurse specialist (CNS) follow-up clinic reduced the readmission 12-monthrate. Methods This is a sequential comparison of patient admitted with stroke one year prior and one year after the clinic was established in 2013. The primary outcome was hospital 12-month hospital readmission rate; main secondary outcome was recurrent vascular event. Patients were identified from the hospital discharge records and underwent detailed electronic chart review. Results were adjusted for differences in baseline characteristics. Results We identified 874 patients; 439 pre- and 435 post-nurse clinic implementation. There was no significant difference between the one-year readmission rate after the establishment of the stroke follow up clinic (adjusted OR=1.06; 95% CI, 0.85–1.64; p=0.804) and no difference in recurrent composite vascular events at one-year (adjusted OR=1.20; 95% CI, 0.68–2.11; p=0.528). The median (IQR) time to follow-up to clinic after discharge was 85 (63–98.5) days. There was a trend towards a reduction in vascular events when limiting the analysis to patients who actually attended clinic, but this trend disappeared when adjusting for baseline inter-group differences. Conclusions There was no reduction in the one-year hospital readmission or vascular event recurrence rate for patients with stroke following the establishment of a nurse specialist led stroke follow up clinic. Earlier timed follow-up and the psychosocial value offered by these clinics requires further evaluation.