A dedicated cardioversion unit for the treatment of atrial fibrillation

Abstract

Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most frequent arrhythmia seen in man. Many patients are admitted to the hospital to undergo transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) for thrombus exclusion and subsequent electrical cardioversion (ECV) under deep sedation to restore sinus rhythm. The present study investigated prospectively how workflow optimization can contribute to reducing time and costs in AF patients scheduled for ECV in an outpatient setting. A cardioversion unit (CU) was established and equipped to perform all ECV-associated procedures. Between November2007 and January2009, ECV was performed in 115patients in an outpatient setting. Three different settings were tested for ECV: (1) usual care (n = 19): preparation/follow-up in the outpatient clinic, blood testing in the central hospital laboratory (CHL), TEE in the echocardiography laboratory, and ECV in the intensive care unit; (2) optimized process1 (n = 41): preparation/follow-up, TEE + ECV during one sedation in the CU, blood testing in the CHL; (3) optimized process2 (n = 55): preparation/follow-up, TEE + ECV and point of care (POC) blood testing in the CU. All procedure-related costs were listed and classified according to material, human resources, and infrastructure. From setting1 to 3, there was a significant decrease in procedural time from 480 ± 105min to 205 ± 85min (p < 0.001). Likewise, ECV-associated costs could be reduced from 683 ± 104<euro> to 299 ± 63<euro> (p < 0.001). Establishing a CU for AF enables a more than 50% reduction in procedural time and costs. A combination of TEE and ECV in one sedation and POC testing in the CU were the major contributors to this time and cost reduction.