Background: The HEART Pathway is an accelerated diagnostic protocol (ADP) designed to identify low-risk Emergency Department (ED) patients with chest pain for early discharge without stress testing or angiography. The objective of this study was to determine whether implementation of the HEART Pathway is safe (30 day death and myocardial infarction rate <1% in low-risk patients) and effective (reduces 30 day hospitalizations) in ED patients with possible acute coronary syndrome (ACS). Methods: A prospective pre/post study was conducted at three US sites among 8,474 adult ED patients with possible ACS. Patients included were ≥21 years old, investigated for possible ACS, and had no evidence of ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction on electrocardiography. Accrual occurred for 12 months before and after HEART Pathway implementation from November 2013- January 2016. The HEART Pathway ADP was integrated into each site’s electronic health record as an interactive clinical decision support tool. Following ADP integration, ED providers prospectively utilized the HEART Pathway to identify patients with possible ACS as low-risk (appropriate for early discharge without stress testing or angiography) or non-low-risk (appropriate for further in-hospital evaluation). The primary safety and effectiveness outcomes, death and myocardial infarction (MI) and hospitalization rates at 30 days, were determined from health records, insurance claims, and death index data. Results: Pre- and post-implementation cohorts included 3713 and 4761 patients, respectively. The HEART Pathway identified 30.7% as low-risk; 0.4% of these patients experienced death or MI within 30 days. Hospitalization at 30 days was reduced by 6% in the post- vs pre-implementation cohort (55.6% vs 61.6%; aOR: 0.79, 95%CI: 0.71–0.87). During the index visit more MIs were detected in the post-implementation cohort (6.6% vs 5.7%; aOR: 1.36, 95%CI: 1.12–1.65). Rates of death or MI during follow-up were similar (1.1% vs 1.3%; aOR: 0.88, 95% CI: 0.58–1.33). Conclusions: HEART Pathway implementation was associated with decreased hospitalizations, increased identification of index visit MIs, and a very low death and MI rate among low-risk patients. These findings support use of the HEART Pathway to identify low-risk patients that can be safely discharged without stress testing or angiography. Clinical Trial Registration: clinicaltrials.gov Identifier: NCT02056964

IMPORTANCE Physical rehabilitation in the intensive care unit (ICU) may improve the outcomes of patients with acute respiratory failure. OBJECTIVE To compare standardized rehabilitation therapy (SRT) to usual ICU care in acute respiratory failure. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS Single-center, randomized clinical trial at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center, North Carolina. Adult patients (mean age, 58 years; women, 55%) admitted to the ICU with acute respiratory failure requiring mechanical ventilation were randomized to SRT (n=150) or usual care (n=150) from October 2009 through May 2014 with 6-month follow-up. INTERVENTIONS Patients in the SRT group received daily therapy until hospital discharge, consisting of passive range of motion, physical therapy, and progressive resistance exercise. The usual care group received weekday physical therapy when ordered by the clinical team. For the SRT group, the median (interquartile range [IQR]) days of delivery of therapy were 8.0 (5.0–14.0) for passive range of motion, 5.0 (3.0–8.0) for physical therapy, and 3.0 (1.0–5.0) for progressive resistance exercise. The median days of delivery of physical therapy for the usual care group was 1.0 (IQR, 0.0–8.0). MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES Both groups underwent assessor-blinded testing at ICU and hospital discharge and at 2, 4, and 6 months. The primary outcome was hospital length of stay (LOS). Secondary outcomes were ventilator days, ICU days, Short Physical Performance Battery (SPPB) score, 36-item Short-Form Health Surveys (SF-36) for physical and mental health and physical function scale score, Functional Performance Inventory (FPI) score, Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) score, and handgrip and handheld dynamometer strength. RESULTS Among 300 randomized patients, the median hospital LOS was 10 days (IQR, 6 to 17) for the SRT group and 10 days (IQR, 7 to 16) for the usual care group (median difference, 0 [95% CI, −1.5 to 3], P = .41). There was no difference in duration of ventilation or ICU care. There was no effect at 6 months for handgrip (difference, 2.0 kg [95% CI, −1.3 to 5.4], P = .23) and handheld dynamometer strength (difference, 0.4 lb [95% CI, −2.9 to 3.7], P = .82), SF-36 physical health score (difference, 3.4 [95% CI, −0.02 to 7.0], P = .05), SF-36 mental health score (difference, 2.4 [95% CI, −1.2 to 6.0], P = .19), or MMSE score (difference, 0.6 [95% CI, −0.2 to 1.4], P = .17). There were higher scores at 6 months in the SRT group for the SPPB score (difference, 1.1 [95% CI, 0.04 to 2.1, P = .04), SF-36 physical function scale score (difference, 12.2 [95% CI, 3.8 to 20.7], P = .001), and the FPI score (difference, 0.2 [95% CI, 0.04 to 0.4], P = .02). CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE Among patients hospitalized with acute respiratory failure, SRT compared with usual care did not decrease hospital LOS.

Background and Purpose-The paradox of the reported low prevalence of atrial fibrillation (AF) in blacks compared with whites despite higher stroke rates in the former could be related to limitations in the current methods used to diagnose AF in population-based studies. Hence, this study aimed to use the ethnic distribution of ECG predictors of AF as measures of AF propensity in different ethnic groups. Methods-The distribution of baseline measures of P-wave terminal force, P-wave duration, P-wave area, and PR duration (referred to as AF predictors) were compared by ethnicity in 15 429 participants (27% black) from the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) study by unpaired t test, 2 , and logistic-regression analysis, as appropriate. Cox proportional-hazards analysis was used to separately examine the association of AF predictors with incident AF and ischemic stroke. Results-Whereas AF was significantly less common in blacks compared with whites (0.24% vs 0.95%, PϽ0.0001), similar to what has been reported in previous studies, blacks had significantly higher and more abnormal values of AF predictors (PϽ0.0001 for all comparisons). Black ethnicity was significantly associated with abnormal AF predictors compared with whites; odds ratios for different AF predictors ranged from 2.1 to 3.1. AF predictors were significantly and independently associated with AF and ischemic stroke with no significant interaction between ethnicity and AF predictors, findings that further justify using AF predictors as an earlier indicator of future risk of AF and stroke. Conclusions-There is a disconnect between the ethnic distribution of AF predictors and the ethnic distribution of AF, probably because the former, unlike the latter, do not suffer from low sensitivity. These results raise the possibility that blacks might actually have a higher prevalence of AF that might have been missed by previous studies owing to limited methodology, a difference that could partially explain the greater stroke risk in blacks.

A respiratory therapist-driven weaning protocol incorporating daily screens, spontaneous breathing trials (SBT), and prompts to caregivers has been associated with superior outcomes in mechanically ventilated medical patients. To determine the effectiveness of this approach in neurosurgical (NSY) patients, we conducted a randomized controlled trial involving 100 patients over a 14-mo period. All had daily screens of weaning parameters. If these were passed, a 2-h SBT was performed in the Intervention group. Study physicians communicated positive SBT results, and the decision to extubate was made by the primary NSY team. Patients in the Intervention (n = 49) and Control (n = 51) groups had similar demographic characteristics, illness severity, and neurologic injuries. Among all patients, 87 (45 in the Control and 42 in the Intervention group) passed at least one daily screen. Forty (82%) patients in the Intervention group passed SBT, but a median of 2 d passed before attempted extubation, primarily because of concerns about the patient's sensorium (84%). Of 167 successful SBT, 126 (75%) did not lead to attempted extubation on the same day. The median time of mechanical ventilation was 6 d in both study groups, and there were no differences in outcomes. Overall complications included death (36%), reintubation (16%), and pneumonia (9%). Tracheostomies were created in 29% of patients. Multivariate analysis showed that Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) score (p < 0.0001) and partial pressure of arterial oxygen/fraction of inspired oxygen ratio (p < 0.0001) were associated with extubation success. The odds of successful extubation increased by 39% with each GCS score increment. A GCS score > or = 8 at extubation was associated with success in 75% of cases, versus 33% for a GCS score < 8 (p < 0.0001). Implementation of a weaning protocol based on traditional respiratory physiologic parameters had practical limitations in NSY patients, owing to concerns about neurologic impairment. Whether protocols combining respiratory parameters with neurologic measures lead to superior outcomes in this population requires further investigation.