Background

Elderly patients with cardiovascular disease (CVD) have significant limitations in relation to self-management and quality of life (QOL). Interprofessional collaboration has the potential to produce better outcomes for elderly patients living with CVD. Methods

The primary objective of this pilot pre-/post intervention study was to improve the QOL for elderly patients with CVD through the development of an interprofessional collaborative intervention in the primary care setting. The intervention consisted of one health fair and two subsequent chronic care management (CCM) meetings focused on self-management of CVD at two participating accountable care organization (ACO) primary care clinics. A pre- and post-survey was administered to patients that consisted of the Short Form (SF)-36 Health Survey and the Activities-Specific Balance Confidence (ABC) Scale. Medication adherence at baseline and after intervention was also assessed. Patients eligible for study inclusion included individuals 65 years or older, referred to CCM services by his/her ACO primary care provider. Results

28 participants were recruited. Of these, 15 patients (53%) were included in the final analysis. Compared to baseline, the limitations due to physical health (p = 0.043) and social functioning (p = 0.035) domains of the SF-36 health survey improved after the intervention while all other domains remained stable. No statistically significant difference was found between pre- and post-intervention on the ABC scale (p = 0.205) and medication adherence. Conclusions

Through interprofessional intervention, this pilot study demonstrated that elderly patients were able to improve in social functioning and limitations to physical activity, benefiting their overall QOL.