Vascular health and risk management
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Vasc Health Risk Manag · May 2010
Multicenter StudyFeasibility and effectiveness of a disease and care management model in the primary health care system for patients with heart failure and diabetes (Project Leonardo).
Project Leonardo represented a feasibility study to evaluate the impact of a disease and care management (D&CM) model and of the introduction of "care manager" nurses, trained in this specialized role, into the primary health care system. ⋯ Physicians, care managers, and patients showed unanimous agreement regarding the positive impact on patient health and self-management, and attributed the outcomes to the strong "partnership" between the care manager and the patient and the collaboration between the physician and the care manager. Future studies should consider the possibility of incorporating a patient empowerment model which considers the patient as the most important member of the health team and care managers as key health care collaborators able to enhance and support services to patients provided by physicians in the primary health care system.