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Implementation of Acute Heart Failure Checklist
Sponsor: Ottawa Hospital Research Institute
Summary
Patients with acute heart failure (AHF) commonly present to the emergency department (ED) with difficulty breathing and often have poor outcomes or death. Care of AHF is very complex and, unfortunately, there are no specific guidelines for how physicians should manage AHF in the ED. The investigators recently created the Canadian Association of Emergency Physicians (CAEP) AHF Best Practices Checklist, a concise document that provides specific guidance for ED care. Our ultimate goal is to conduct a 12-site cluster study to introduce the CAEP AHF Checklist in multiple EDs. Before the investigators can do so, it is essential to demonstrate feasibility in a smaller-scale study. Our objective for this application is to conduct an internal pilot study to demonstrate feasibility of measuring implementation outcomes and refine the protocol if necessary. The investigators will develop strategies to encourage successful adoption of the Checklist by physicians in the ED and allocate 4 large Ontario EDs to implement the Checklist for 1,700 adult AHF patients. This study will be very important for patients and the healthcare system. If the investigators show that the CAEP AHF Checklist improves patient management and outcomes, this would lead to widespread uptake of the Checklist by all EDs in Canada.
Official title: An Implementation Study to Improve Care of Patients With Acute Heart Failure in the Emergency Department
Key Details
Gender
All
Age Range
18 Years - Any
Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Enrollment
5040
Start Date
2026-08-15
Completion Date
2030-06-01
Last Updated
2026-10-16
Healthy Volunteers
No
Interventions
CAEP Acute Heart Failure (AHF) Best Practices Checklist Implementation
Implementation of the CAEP Acute Heart Failure (AHF) Best Practices Checklist to guide physician assessment, treatment, and disposition of patients presenting with AHF in the emergency department. The intervention includes structured implementation strategies to support behavior change and uptake, including identification of local physician champions, education sessions and presentations, review of barriers and facilitators, development of local action plans, reminders, audit and feedback on adherence, and access to a smartphone application providing the Checklist as a point-of-care reference.
Usual care
Standard emergency department care for patients with acute heart failure prior to implementation of the CAEP AHF Checklist, with no exposure to active implementation strategies.
Locations (1)
Ottawa Hospital Research Institute
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada