Collaborative care for the management of depression, heart disease and diabetes brings positive results. By Annie May.

Practice nurses can improve depression in patients with diabetes and heart disease, a recent study has found. Researchers from the Greater Green Triangle University Department of Rural Health used a collaborative care model to monitor and treat depression alongside treatment for the underlying chronic disease and compared outcomes to usual GP care. The results clearly showed the collaborative model, where practice nurses (PNs) acted as case managers, got much better results, Dr Mark Morgan, senior research fellow at Flinders University, told the Primary Health Care Research Conference held in...