New program to improve in-hospital atrial fibrillation care

Newsroom.heart.org: June 25, 2012.

• The American Heart Association will expand its Get With The Guidelines^® quality improvement program to improve the care of patients hospitalized with atrial fibrillation (AF).
• About 2.7 million people are living with AF, a quivering or irregular heartbeat that can lead to stroke and heart related complications.
• Get With The Guidelines^®-Atrial Fibrillation will help improve access to proven medical therapies based on scientific guidelines, monitor the quality of AF care in U.S. hospitals; and create a database for continued research and quality improvement initiatives.

DALLAS, June 25, 2012 ― This year, the American Heart Association will expand its Get With The Guidelines^®  quality improvement program to improve care for patients hospitalized with atrial fibrillation  (AF).

AF is a quivering or irregular heartbeat  affecting about 2.7 million Americans, and accounts for about one-third of hospitalizations for heart rhythm disturbance. The heart normally contracts and relaxes to a regular beat. In atrial fibrillation, the upper chambers of the heart, called the atria, beat irregularly instead of beating effectively to move blood into the ventricles. AF is associated with a five-fold increased stroke risk, as well as a greater likelihood stroke will lead to significant disability — even death. Read more