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2-025 Safe early discharge in post PCI (primary percutaneous intervention) ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI )patients using ZWOLLE scoring system

heartjnl · 2025-08-13 · canonical JSON source

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Background The discharge practice for low-risk post PCI STEMI (ST-Elevation Myocardial Infarction) patients often fails to meet clinical guidelines, contributing to unnecessary extended inpatient stays and increased hospital costs. Zwolle Score is a well validated system for risk stratification after primary angioplasty for STEMI patients . The objective of this Quality Improvement Project was to identify the low risk group with the help of Zwolle Score, whether the low risk patients are being discharged timely ,the reasons for delay discharge and to undertake measures to improve the practice including enhancing the availability of inpatient echocardiography (IP echo)Methodology Both QI cycles were done with Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) QI project methodology. The first cycle included data which was collected retrospectively and the inclusion criteria was : the patients that were repatriated from Northern General Hospital to Barnsley Hospital after Primary PCI between 28/12/2022 to 18/03/2024 . Data was collected with the help of PCI coordinator and then evaluated including the discharge practice against Zwolle Score and studied the limitations to delay discharge. Challenges identified included delayed echocardiograms, complications post-PCI (Percutaneous Coronary Intervention) including severe Left Ventricular Systolic Dysfunction. The action plan focused on educating nursing staff, prioritizing echocardiograms for post-PCI patients, and ensuring that discharge criteria were fully met.Results In the first cycle, the percentage of patients that stayed longer than necessary were 36.3% , main reasons being secondary to delayed echocardiograms and complications. Only 57% of patients had an IP echo before discharge which failed to meet the STEMI guidelines. In the second cycle, there was significant improvement seen after the action plan was implemented, where the number of patients staying longer than necessary was reduced to 0%, and the number of patients received an Inpatient -IP echo before discharge was 100%. This led to a potential saving of 32 inpatient days.Conclusions The QI project successfully helped to improve the discharge process by ensuring timely and appropriate discharges for low-risk post STEMI patients and meeting recommended guidelines for inpatient echocardiograms. The findings depict the effectiveness of proper implementation of the PDSA cycles in addressing systemic issues and improving patient care while reducing hospital costs.