Tools offer clinical support for appropriate imaging, symptom assessment, patient education
TUESDAY, Feb. 19, 2019 (HealthDay News) — The use of multiple clinical apps in the outpatient clinic can improve quality of care for patients with stable ischemic heart disease, according to a study presented at the American College of Cardiology Cardiovascular Summit, held from Feb. 14 to 16 in Orlando, Florida.
A. Allen Seals, M.D., from St. Vincent’s Healthcare in Jacksonville, Florida, and colleagues used data from the Florida Cardiovascular Quality Network to assess 254 patients presenting with angina symptoms (188 patients with no preexisting stable ischemic heart disease [SIHD] and 66 patients with preexisting SIHD). Three apps (ACC FOCUS as a clinical decision support app for imaging appropriate use criteria [AUC] documentation, the Seattle Angina Questionnaire [SAQ] app to determine symptom severity and quality of life, and the CardioSmart [CS] Heart Explorer App to educate patients) were provided to the care teams in tablet format with each patient’s data securely entered.
The researchers found that imaging AUC was appropriate 91 percent of the time, possibly appropriate 8 percent of the time, and rarely appropriate 0.8 percent of the time. From baseline to the 12-month visit, SAQ scores significantly increased (toward higher quality of life and asymptomatic) for angina frequency, angina severity, and quality of life. For more than eight in 10 patients, CS assisted in effective risk factor modification.
“Clinical support tools — or apps — are becoming an integral part of routine clinical procedure,” Seals said in a statement. “These tools do not promote ‘cookbook medicine’ but quite the opposite. They assist the provider in individualizing the care of each patient to follow national cardiovascular care guidelines.”
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