Telephone Follow-Up Helps Fight Post-Surgical Depression

Collaborative care can make an important difference following heart surgery. Some patients suffer depression after this important intervention, and those who are depressed recover more slowly and less completely.
In the study dubbed Bypassing the Blues, heart surgery patients had their mood assessed before hospital discharge. Half of those who were depressed got usual care, while the other half got a workbook to use at home and telephone calls every other week from trained nurse practitioners. The collaborative care relieved depression in more than half of the patients and reduced the rate of re-hospitalization significantly. The patients in the collaborative care group had better physical functioning, mood and health related quality of life at the end of the 8-month intervention period.
[JAMA, Nov. 18, 2009]