Nurse led follow up and conventional medical follow up in management of patients with lung cancer: randomised trial

Abstract

Objective: To assess the effectiveness of nurse led follow up in the management of patients with lung cancer. Design:Randomised controlled trial. Setting:Specialist cancer hospital and three cancer units in southeastern England Participants: 203 patients with lung cancer who had completed their initial treatment and were expected to survive for at least 3 months. Intervention: Nurse led follow up of outpatients compared with conventional medical follow up. Outcome measures: Quality of life, patients' satisfaction, general practitioners' satisfaction, survival, symptom-free survival, progression-free survival, use of resources, and comparison of costs. Results: Patient acceptability of nurse led follow up was high: 75% (203/271) of eligible patients consented to participate. Patients who received the intervention had less severe dyspnoea at 3 months (P=0.03) and had better scores for emotional functioning (P=0.03) and less peripheral neuropathy (P=0.05) at 12 months. Intervention group patients scored significantly better in most satisfaction subscales at 3, 6, and 12 months (PConclusion: Nurse led follow up was acceptable to lung cancer patients and general practitioners and led to positive outcomes.