Investigators used a Web-based recording system, as well as face-to-face regional benchmark analysis and educational meetings, in the BLITZ-HF prospective study to evaluate and improve adherence to heart failure (HF) guidelines—which is generally suboptimal and related to poorer prognostic consequences—in patients with acute and chronic HF (AHF and CHF, respectively). The study involved two enrollment periods during which the Web-based recording system was used (phases 1 and 3), interspersed by analysis and meetings (phase 2).
The investigators examined management, including creatinine and ECG exams or discharge follow-up planning, and treatment performance indicators for patients in both settings. In total, the study team included 7,218 patients with AHF and CHF at 106 sites. In the enrollment phases, 3,920 and 3,298 patients, respectively, were included, 84% and 16% of whom had CHF and AHF, respectively, in phase 1 and 74% and 26% of whom had CHF and AHF, respectively, in phase 3. Similar rates of exams scheduled and prescriptions written at discharge as well as in-hospital creatinine evaluations, were observed among patients with AHF in phase 1 and phase 3. Results were also similar among patients with CHF for prescriptions and creatinine evaluations. The study team concluded that a comprehensive educational intervention can improve adherence to HF guidelines and that extending this approach to health professions beyond cardiology, where patients with HF are generally managed, should be considered.
