Table 3

Intensity of Included Transitional Care Interventions

Intensity and Trial, Year	Structured Home Visits	Telephone Follow-up	Clinic Follow-up	Telecare Only	Telecare + Other Types of Follow-up	Details
Low intensity
Riegel et al,³⁷ 2006		X				11 RCTs had a prearranged telephone follow-up.^{37–44,53,56,62} Patients received 3 to 16 telephone calls (over a 2- to 12-month period).
Domingues et al,⁵⁶ 2011		X
DeBusk et al,³⁸ 2004		X
Laramee et al,³⁹ 2003		X
Wakefield et al,⁴⁰ 2008		X
Dunagan et al,⁴¹ 2005		X
Rainville et al,⁴² 1999		X
Tsuyuki et al,⁵³ 2004		X
Barth et al,⁴³ 2001		X
Lopez Cabezas et al,⁶² 2006		X
Chaudhry et al,⁴⁴ 2010		X
Doughty et al,⁷⁰ 2002			X			In 2 RCTs, follow-up was provided in an outpatient clinic by the family physician or a cardiologist or multidisciplinary team.^56,69 Patients visited the clinic7 to 10 times (over a 12- to 18-month period).
Jaarsma et al,⁵⁷ 2008			X
Moderate intensity
Stewart et al,⁹ 1998; Inglis et al,⁸¹ 2004	X					4 RCTs used prearranged home visits^9,34,70,71 with a total of 2 to 9 visits (over a 6- to 12-month period).
Barker et al,⁷¹ 2012	X
Naylor et al,³⁵ 2004	X
Kwok et al,⁷² 2008	X
Nucifora et al,⁵⁹ 2006		X	X			8 RCTs combined a structured telephone call with follow-up in a clinic.^{44,45,53,57–59,62,63} They included 1 to 10 telephone calls and 1 to 8 visits to the clinic (over a 6- to 24-month period).
Del Sindaco et al,⁶⁰ 2007		X	X
Cleland et al,⁵⁸ 2005		X	X
Ekman et al,⁶⁴ 1998		X	X
Atienza et al,⁶³ 2004		X	X
Kasper et al,⁴⁵ 2002		X	X
Angermann et al,⁴⁶ 2012		X	X
Ducharme et al,⁵⁴ 2005		X	X
Dar et al,⁶⁶ 2009				X		2 RCTs featured telecare without prearranged direct contact with patients.^47,66 The vital signs transmit-ted daily consisted of weight,^47,66 blood pressure, pulse, and oxygen saturation.⁶⁶ Patients also answered questions on CHF symptoms via telephone (automated voice response).^47,66
Goldberg et al,⁴⁷ 2002				X
High intensity
Harrison et al,⁵⁵ 2002	X	X				6 RCTs used structured home visits combined with telephone follow-up.^{8,10,47,54,66,67} Patients had a total of 1 to 3 home visits (over a 3- to 12-month period).
Rich et al,⁴⁸ 1993	X	X
Rich et al,⁸ 1995	X	X
Blue et al,⁶⁷ 2001	X	X
Leventhal et al,⁶⁸ 2011	X	X
Jaarsma et al,¹⁰ 1999	X	X
Cline et al,⁶⁵ 1998	X		X			2 RCTs combined home visits with follow-up in a clinic.^64,72 Patients received 1 home visit and 4 to 6 in-clinic follow-ups (over a 6- to 12-month period).
Thompson et al,⁷³ 2005	X		X
Adlbrecht et al,⁶⁹ 2011; Berger et al,⁸² 2010	X	X	X			3 RCTs combined home visits with telephone calls and a visit to a clinic.^48,56,68 The total number of home visits ranged from 1 to 3 (over a 3- to 12-month period).
Pugh et al,⁴⁹ 2001; Blaha et al,⁸³ 2000	X	X	X
Jaarsma et al,⁵⁷ 2008	X	X	X
Giordano et al,⁶¹ 2009					X	5 RCTs combined telecare with prearranged direct contact with patients^{50–52,58,61} such as prearranged telephone calls,^51,61 video calls and home visits,^50,52 or visits to a clinic.⁵⁸ Vital signs (weight, blood pressure, oxygen saturation, heart sounds, pulse, and electrocardiographic findings) were transmitted daily^50,51,58 or at a scheduled time.^52,61
Bowles et al,⁵⁰ 2011					X
Kulshreshtha et al,⁵¹ 2010					X
Pekmezaris et al,⁵² 2012					X
Cleland et al,⁵⁸ 2005					X

CHF = congestive heart failure; RCT = randomized controlled trial.