[Audit on preoperative cardiac evaluation before non-cardiac surgery: the importance of a pocket guide to improve the anaesthesist's adhesion to ACC/AHA guidelines]. / Audit sur l'évaluation cardiaque préopératoire avant une chirurgie non cardiaque : utilité d'un aide-mémoire pour améliorer l'adhésion des anesthésistes aux recommandations de l'American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association (ACC/AHA).

ABSTRACT

INTRODUCTION: The American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association (ACC/AHA) guidelines stratify perioperative cardiac risk according to clinical markers, functional capacity, and type of surgery. They help determining which patients are candidates for preoperative cardiac testing and optimizing the cost-effectiveness of the evaluation strategy. Auditing our preoperative anaesthetic screening practice revealed an exceedingly high rate of referrals to the cardiologists. A small pocket-size reminder was created in order to improve the adhesion of the anaesthesiologists to the recommendations of the ACC/AHA, and confirm or obviate the need for a formal preoperative specialized cardiology consultation. Another audit was conducted 1 year later in order to evaluate the effectiveness of this reminder. METHODS: The second audit was conducted over a period of 1 month. Recorded data included demographic characteristics, clinical predictors of cardiovascular risk, surgical risk, and the reasons for the cardiac evaluation by a cardiologist (as reported by the senior or junior anaesthesiologist). Results of this second audit were compared to those of the audit conducted a year earlier. RESULTS: During the first audit, a total of 654 patients were seen in the preoperative unit. Fifty-two patients were referred to a cardiologist during the study period (7.9%). Guidelines for cardiac assessment were respected in 7/52 patients (13.5%). During the second audit, 30 out of 787 patients (3.8%) screened in preoperative anaesthetic consultation unit were referred to the cardiologist. According to the ACC/AHA guidelines, 27/30 patients (90%) objectively needed a cardiology consultation due to the existence of a known previous heart disease. DISCUSSION: The use of the pocket reminder concerning the ACC/AHA recommendations significantly reduced both the total number of cardiology referrals, and the number of unjustified referrals. The use of a pocket guide may help in reducing both the cost and the postponement of scheduled surgery.