%0 Journal Article %A Jayne Masters %A Geraint Morton %A Isabel Anton %A Jane Szymanski %A Elizabeth Greenwood %A Joanna Grogono %A Andrew S Flett %A John G F Cleland %A Peter J Cowburn %T 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 %D 2017 %R 10.1136/openhrt-2016-000547 %J Open Heart %P e000547 %V 4 %N 1 %X 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<0.0001) and 1-year mortality (43% pre-HFT vs 27% post-HFT; p=0.001) were significantly lower in the post-HFT cohort. Post-HFT patients were significantly more likely to be discharged on loop diuretics (84% vs 98%; p=<0.0001), ACE inhibitors (65% vs 76%; p=0.02), ACE inhibitors and/or angiotensin receptor blockers (83% vs 91%; p=0.02), and mineralocorticoid receptor antagonists (44% vs 68%; p<0.0001) pre-HFT versus post-HFT, respectively. There was no difference in discharge prescription rates of beta-blockers (59% pre-HFT vs 63% post-HFT; p=0.45).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. %U https://openheart.bmj.com/content/openhrt/4/1/e000547.full.pdf