Augmenting Atrial Fibrillation Care After an Emergency Department Visit: Implementing Telephone Practice

Background: Between 2010 and 2012, the Heart Rhythm team in a tertiary care hospital completed a retrospective study that found that atrial fibrillation (AF) care can be episodic and heavily reliant on hospital resources, particularly the emergency department (ED). Problem: Patients who attend the ED with AF are at high risk of hospital admission. Approach: A nurse practitioner (NP) was added to the Heart Rhythm team to create a program to improve AF care after an ED visit. Telephone practice was one of the many processes created. Outcomes: Findings revealed that 37 of 90 patients presented to the ED with AF prior to telephone contact and 7 of 90 patients did so post–telephone contact (P
Source: Journal of Nursing Care Quality - Category: Nursing Tags: Articles Source Type: research