2022 Quality Summit ePosters (Non-CE) - General Quality Improvement-3. Evolution of a Large Quaternary Heart Team: From Concept to Practice

3. Evolution of a Large Quaternary Heart Team: From Concept to Practice

Pdf Summary

The document describes the implementation and evolution of a Heart Team (HT) at an institution, focusing on high-risk patients. The HT consists of various healthcare professionals, including cardiologists and cardiothoracic surgeons, who come together for multi-disciplinary discussions on therapeutic options for complex cardiovascular diseases.<br /><br />The HT is facilitated by a dedicated HT coordinator and meets regularly to review cases, with an average of 7 cases discussed per week. Since its initiation in 2015, over 2000 patients have been provided with HT recommendations. A HT quality improvement registry was established to track patient demographics, comorbidities, cardiac testing results, HT recommendations, and outcomes.<br /><br />The goal of the HT is to improve patient care by emphasizing coordinated multidisciplinary care, increasing efficiency, reducing unnecessary testing, and identifying high-risk patients for better outcomes. The implementation of HTs nationally has been inconsistent, with wide variations in practice. Despite being recommended as a Class 1 recommendation, there is limited evidence and data available to guide the successful development of HTs.<br /><br />The document presents the institutional journey of developing a successful HT and highlights the benefits of HTs, including improved patient and provider satisfaction, decreased cost of care, and improved patient outcomes. The authors hope that by sharing their experience, other healthcare systems can adopt a similar framework.<br /><br />The document also includes a table showing baseline characteristics of patients with different treatment options (OMT, PCI + OMT, CABG + OMT). It provides data on age, gender, BMI, LV ejection fraction, comorbidities, and HT recommendations followed.<br /><br />In conclusion, the document discusses the implementation and success of a HT in improving the care of high-risk cardiovascular patients. It emphasizes the importance of multidisciplinary collaboration and offers a framework for other institutions to adopt.

Keywords

Heart Team

high-risk patients

healthcare professionals

multi-disciplinary discussions

therapeutic options

cardiovascular diseases

HT coordinator

HT recommendations

HT quality improvement registry

coordinated multidisciplinary care