Effects of a care manager organization for care of people with mild-moderate depression in Swedish primary care

• Published in: Läkartidningen Vol. 116
• Main Authors: Björkelund, Cecilia, Svenningsson, Irene, Westman, Jeanette, Petersson, Eva-Lisa, Hange, Dominique, Holst, Anna, Wallin, Lars, Udo, Camilla
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English; Swedish
• Published: Sweden 01-11-2019
• Subjects: Aftercare; Attitude of Health Personnel; Case Management; Continuity of Patient Care; Cost-Benefit Analysis; Depression - economics; Depression - therapy; Depressive Disorder - economics; Depressive Disorder - therapy; Disease Progression; Humans; Patient Care Management; Primary Health Care; Quality of Health Care; Return to Work; Sick Leave; Sweden; Treatment Outcome; Sweden
• ISSN: 1652-7518

By strengthening accessibility and continuity and support via a care manager for primary care patients with depression corresponding to 20-30% of a nursing service, patients recovered significantly faster and to a greater extent than in primary care-as-usual. Return to work occurred significantly earlier in the first three months, and net sick leave period was significantly shorter during the following 4-6 months. To introduce a collaborative care organizational change where the care manager is the hub and coordinates care for the patient and makes it possible to adapt the care according to the patient's needs throughout the care process, is thus the individual effort shown to have the greatest efficiency in Swedish primary care to increase the quality of care of depression. This approach, where the clinic and academy work closely and continuously in the development and evaluation phases, makes it possible to rapidly develop new ways of working where consideration is given to the complexity of primary care and the complexity of care needs and care efforts.