Reducing Congestive Heart Failure (CHF) Decomposition

Physician Lead: Dr. Mildred Chang 

Aim Statement: To reduce repeat Emergency Room (ER) visits and re-admissions due to CHF decompensation for hospitalist patients at Peace Arch Hospital (PAH) by 20% by the end of 2020. Due to complications introduced by covid, the aim statement deadline has now changed. 

Currently: Congestive Heart Failure (CHF) patients are identified through various means- Furosemide medication list, I-Tracker as well as daily discharge lists on designated floors. They are approached and given patient education pertaining to the condition via a book created by the Heart and Stroke Foundation alongside video education. Once patients agree to receive the information they are contacted in a month's time to discuss the content. In parallel to this, a group of volunteers regularly attend long-term care homes in the South Surrey area to introduce heart failure games to raise awareness and educate individuals more vulnerable to this condition.

Next Steps: Moving forward, there will be a family doctor in the community that will utilize an inventory of questions to start a follow-up process to assist with the primary care network/portion of the project. The documentation piece has already been developed and the project will undergo its first PDSA cycle when it comes to this.