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ACP unveils new tools to improve ACS care
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The American College of Physicians today unveiled two evidence-based interventions and two videos designed to improve patient health outcomes in the first year following an initial ACS.
The Initiative on Acute Coronary Syndrome was developed to improve communication between clinicians and patients in the home and hospital setting during the critical 12 months after an ACS. The initiative focuses on four key interventions: a patient guide, clinician support tool and two videos.
Keeping Your Heart Healthy: What You and Your Family Should Do is an educational guide designed to enhance patient-clinician communication by encouraging patients and caregivers to ask questions of their physician and other health care providers. The guide includes information on CV health, lifestyle changes, medications and recovery issues such as returning to work and resuming daily activities. Color-coded sections illustrate actions such as when to call 911 or the physician, according to a press release.
The Practice Guide for the Post-Acute Coronary Syndrome Hospitalization Office Visit is a decision support tool for clinician use during the first post-discharge office visit. Clinicians can utilize assessment suggestions, such as medication adherence and lifestyle modifications, that include a corresponding intervention, such as teach-back or reviewing approved physical activities, according to the release.
Two patient videos, Discharge from the Hospital and Medications after a Heart Attack, are also available.
During a press briefing at the ACP Internal Medicine 2013 meeting, Doron Schneider, MD, FACP, said the purpose of the Initiative on Acute Coronary Syndrome is to improve the readmission rate of patients with ACS.
“Currently, the readmission rate for patients who have had ACS nationally hovers around 20%,” said Schneider, chief safety and quality officer at Abington Memorial Hospital, Pa., and member of the initiative’s national steering committee.
“This content is novel and complements the [ACP’s] existing content. This content builds a bridge to that content so patients who just had an [ACS] event can carefully navigate that hospitalization and land safely at home,” Schneider said.
The ACS materials can be ordered on the ACP website or by calling ACP Customer Service. The print and video materials are available for all physicians to order for their patients for free.
Disclosure: The ACP Initiative on Acute Coronary Syndrome is funded by a grant from Janssen Pharmaceuticals.