title: [The value of an intervention for improving secondary prevention in patients undergoing cardiac surgery].
abstract: Given that treatment for secondary prevention in patients undergoing cardiac surgery is underused, we devised a hospital intervention to increase its implementation. The intervention involved all physicians in the department of cardiac surgery agreeing to complete a report on each patient before hospital discharge. The document recorded the indications for the recommended treatments, and prompted for details of the drugs prescribed, the doses used, the reasons for not prescribing the recommended drugs, if that was the case, and the use of alternative medicines. The efficacy of the intervention was evaluated by comparing the rate of drug use in the year in which it was introduced (2003, n=341) with retrospective data on the rate in the previous year (n=369). The rates of use of aspirin, statins, angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors, and beta-blockers by patients who required them all showed an absolute increase, of 13.4%, 38.3%, 21.8%, and 21.5%, respectively. In conclusion, the introduction of a simple and inexpensive intervention was able to significantly increase the use of drugs for secondary prevention in patients undergoing cardiac surgery.
authors.affiliation: Servicio de Cirugía Cardiaca, Hospital Universitario La Princesa, Madrid, España. guillermo_reyes_copa@yahoo.es
authors.forename: Guillermo
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Reyes
authors.forename: Hugo
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Rodríguez-Abella
authors.forename: Gregorio
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Cuerpo
authors.forename: José
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: López
authors.forename: Elena
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Montalvo
authors.forename: Juan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Duarte
authors.forename: José L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Vallejo
authors.forename: Héctor
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Bueno
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D006348:Cardiac Surgical Procedures; D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000517:prevention & control*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011183:Postoperative Complications / Q000517:prevention & control*; D011996:Records