Introduction:
We are conducting an NIH-sponsored trial to determine whether a Nurse-Led Physician-Directed (NLPD) coronary heart disease (CHD) secondary prevention system (SPS) can be developed to increase rates of optimal cardiac care (OCC) and increase patient and provider satisfaction. The system must also be economically feasible for the medical group.
Objective:
To elicit the attitudes and beliefs that care providers and other employees hold about a CHD SPS. These data will be used to guide program development.
Methods:
We surveyed all providers and staff who care for CHD patients. Three scores were created and rescaled to a range of 1 (strongly disagree) to 10 (strongly agree). Cronbach's alpha values (“a”) were calculated.
Results:
178 providers and staff from 5 clinics (76%) responded to the survey. 79.3% were female; 33% were providers, 67% were clinical services staff. Mean years in patient care were 12.6 (SD 10.4). Perceived need to improve the way in which to achieve OCC (a=0.93) averaged 6.3 (SD 2.3). Support for the development of SPS (a=0.75) averaged 7.6 (SD 1.3). Perceived leadership commitment to improve SPS (a=0.93) averaged 7.8 (SD 1.8).
Conclusions:
These data demonstrate that providers and other employees perceive a need to improve the delivery of CHD secondary prevention services, support the development of SPS to provide OCC, and perceive that leadership is committed to increasing OCC rates. These attitudes and beliefs create a strong platform upon which to build an economically viable CHD SPS that increases OCC while increasing patient and provider satisfaction.