title: Success in implementing a hospital-wide evidence-based clinical pathways system for the management of cardiac patients: the ACAP program experience.
abstract: There is robust evidence to support the concept that critical pathways, derived from evidence-based guidelines, are an effective strategy for bridging the gap between published guidelines and clinical practice. It was with this idea in mind that in 2004 we developed an innovative novel program at our institution, that is, the "Advanced Cardiac Admission Program." The Advanced Cardiac Admission program consists of tools and strategies for implementing American College of Cardiology or American Heart Association guidelines into daily clinical practice. The program is composed of 8 novel critical pathways for the management of cardiac patients. In this article, we describe our experience in successfully implementing this program at our institutions.
authors.affiliation: Division of Cardiology, St. Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital Center, Columbia University College of Physicians & Surgeons, NY. EA2168@Columbia.edu
authors.forename: Emad F
authors.initials: EF
authors.lastname: Aziz
authors.forename: Balaji
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Pratap
authors.forename: Maria E
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: De Benedetti Zunino
authors.forename: Deborah
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Tormey
authors.forename: Fahad
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Javed
authors.forename: Olivier
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Frankenberger
authors.forename: Mun K
authors.initials: MK
authors.lastname: Hong
authors.forename: Eyal
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Herzog
mesh_terms: D000572:American Heart Association; D016507:Cardiology Service, Hospital; D019091:Critical Pathways / Q000458:organization & administration*; D019317:Evidence-Based Medicine; D019983:Guideline Adherence; D006284:Health Plan Implementation / Q000458:organization & administration*; D006331:Heart Diseases / Q000628:therapy*; D006801:Humans; D010346:Patient Care Management; D017410:Practice Guidelines as Topic; D015397:Program Evaluation; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D014481:United States