Resource use within 180 days after discharge
| Resource | Intervention group (n=300) | Historical control group (n=580) | P value* | |||
| High risk (n=96) | Intermediate risk (n=174) | Low risk (n=30) | Total intervention group | |||
| Cardiac readmissions, n (%)† | ||||||
| Unplanned cardiac readmissions | 29 (30) | 36 (21) | ≤3 | 68 (23) | 219 (38) | <0.001 |
| Planned cardiac readmissions | 5 (5) | 5 (2) | ≤3 | 11 (4) | 31 (5) | 0.268 |
| Readmission with pericardiocentesis‡ | 5 (5) | ≤3 | ≤3 | 9 (3) | 40 (7) | 0.020 |
| Thoracentesis | ≤3 | ≤3 | ≤3 | 5 (2) | 18 (3) | 0.205 |
| Emergency room visits, n (%)† | 9 (9) | 16 (9) | ≤3 | 28 (9) | 75 (13) | 0.116 |
| Outpatient consultations/procedures, n (%)† | ||||||
| Echocardiography | 88 (92) | 168 (97) | 30 (100) | 286 (95) | 528 (91) | 0.022 |
| Pericardiocentesis | 10 (10)§ | 6 (3) | ≤3 | 17 (6) | 0 (0) | <0.001 |
| Thoracentesis | 9 (9) | 8 (5) | ≤3 | 17 (6) | 31 (5) | 0.842 |
| Heart failure consultations | 8 (8) | 14 (8) | ≤3 | 24 (8) | 54 (9) | 0.517 |
| Arrhythmia consultations | 18 (19) | 28 (16) | 5 (17) | 51 (17) | 70 (12) | 0.044 |
| Other (unspecified) cardiology consultations | 17 (18) | 36 (21) | ≤3 | 60 (20) | 209 (36) | <0.001 |
| Cardiac surgery consultations | 7 (7) | 7 (4) | ≤3 | 17 (6) | 34 (6) | 0.906 |
| General practitioner, n (%)† | ||||||
| Direct consultations, normal opening hours | 92 (96) | 170 (98) | 30 (100) | 292 (97) | 559 (96) | 0.452 |
| Telephone consultations, normal opening hours | 78 (81) | 133 (76) | 25 (83) | 236 (79) | 503 (87) | 0.002 |
| Out-of-hours consultations, all | 29 (30) | 43 (25) | 9 (30) | 81 (27) | 220 (38) | 0.001 |
*P<0.05, differences between the intervention group and the historical control group, compared using χ2.
†N and %=number and proportion of patients with one or more readmission/consultation/procedure.
‡Both parasternal and subxiphoid approach.
§Denotes statistically significant difference from intermediate-risk group ascertained by χ2.