Outpatient volumes and medical staffing resources as predictors for continuity of follow-up care during transfer of adolescents with congenital heart disease

Providing continuous follow-up care to patients with congenital heart disease (CHD) remains a challenge in many settings. Previous studies highlight that patients with CHD experience discontinuation of follow-up care, but mainly describe a single-centre perspective, neglecting inter-institutional variations. Hospital-related factors above and beyond patient-related factors are believed to affect continuity of care. The present multicentre study therefore investigated (i) proportion of “no follow-up care”; (ii) transfer destinations after leaving paediatric cardiology; (iii) variation in proportions of no follow-up between centres; (iv) the association between no follow-up and outpatient volumes, and (v) its relationship with staffing resources at outpatient clinics.

Source: International Journal of Cardiology - January 16, 2020 Category: Cardiology Authors: Sandra Skogby, Philip Moons, Bengt Johansson, Jan Sunneg årdh, Christina Christersson, Edit Nagy, Per Winberg, Katarina Hanséus, Aleksandra Trzebiatowska-Krzynska, Shalan Fadl, Eva Fernlund, Kalliopi Kazamia, Annika Rydberg, Liesl Zühlke, Eva Goossens, Source Type: research