Credit score: UT Southwestern Medical Middle
A UT Southwestern Medical Middle high quality enchancment workforce led a large-scale, multispecialty venture in partnership with the Parkland Middle of Innovation and Worth to assist sufferers with implantable cardioverter defibrillators (ICDs) higher perceive their gadgets and make decisions about their care. The findings, printed in Circulation: Cardiovascular High quality and Outcomes, spotlight how a structured strategy to affected person schooling can empower people to debate their remedy choices with suppliers and guarantee care aligns with their targets, notably close to the top of life.
“By educating patients appropriately, this work allows patients to make informed decisions regarding their implanted defibrillators and how they want to live in a manner that benefits their goals and values,” mentioned examine chief Melanie Sulistio, M.D., Professor of Inner Medication within the Division of Cardiology at UT Southwestern.
ICDs detect irregular coronary heart rhythms and restore regular perform with electrical shocks, which could be lifesaving but additionally distressing, particularly for sufferers approaching the top of life. Whereas medical tips advocate discussing ICD settings—together with shock changes and deactivation—throughout advance care planning, many sufferers by no means obtain this info, leaving them unaware of their choices.
The researchers developed a video to supply sufferers with necessary, accessible details about ICD administration. The initiative displays UT Southwestern’s dedication to enhancing affected person care and builds on earlier analysis exhibiting that most cancers sufferers with ICDs have been extra prone to obtain aggressive end-of-life care than these with out the gadgets.
All examine members have been sufferers in 2023 at Parkland Well being, a public safety-net well being system that serves as the first educating hospital for UTSW. Parkland Well being helps a various affected person inhabitants, lots of whom face obstacles to care, reminiscent of language variations and well being literacy challenges.
Credit score: UT Southwestern Medical Middle
The seven-plus-minute video, out there in English and Spanish, explains ICD perform in clear, relatable phrases. It makes use of efficient analogies, evaluating an ICD to a fireplace alarm that continues to be inactive beneath regular situations however is triggered in an emergency. The video additionally illustrates what an ICD shock appears like, why sufferers may contemplate adjusting their settings, and how you can begin a dialog with their physician about their choices.
The examine examined the video with 50 sufferers at Parkland Well being, assessing their information earlier than and after watching. Earlier than viewing, solely 47% of sufferers appropriately answered key questions on ICD perform and shock settings. Afterward, that quantity elevated to 81%, demonstrating a big enchancment in understanding. Each affected person rated the video as “helpful” or “very helpful.”
Counting each the English and Spanish variations, the video has been considered greater than 1,000 instances, with its use rising throughout cardiology, palliative care, and outpatient clinics. Its potential affect extends past cardiovascular contexts, providing a invaluable useful resource for people with numerous well being situations who even have an ICD.
“This can be applicable to a broad range of patients with heart disease but is also relevant to cancer patients, neurologic patients, and any patient who may have an ICD,” Dr. Sulistio defined.
UT Southwestern and Parkland Well being plan to develop the video’s attain by integrating it into digital well being information, affected person portals, and outpatient care settings. Embedding it into routine care might assist extra sufferers make ICD decisions that mirror their needs, foster autonomy, scale back pointless interventions, and enhance end-of-life care.
Extra info:
Christine L. Chen et al, Improvement of an Progressive Resolution-Help to Higher Align Sufferers’ Implantable Cardioverter Defibrillator Shock Standing With Targets of Care, Circulation: Cardiovascular High quality and Outcomes (2025). DOI: 10.1161/CIRCOUTCOMES.124.011544
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Video helps sufferers with defibrillators perceive choices, enhance end-of-life care (2025, February 26)
retrieved 26 February 2025
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