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Stronger Together: Using the ACC COVID-19 Hub to Guide the CV Team
The COVID-19 pandemic has led to multiple professional organizations working together to create coordinated responses and creating resources to help guide the front-line team.
The ACC has created the ACC COVID-19 Hub, a collaboration for clinical guidelines, practice updates and resources. Content on the ACC COVID-19 Hub is reviewed by the ACC Science and Quality Committee, which evaluate the content systematically and ensure the focus is on cardiac-specific resources.
The content is then divided into several sections: Hot Topics, Clinical Guidance, Policy Operational Guidance, Front Line Experience, Clinical Perspective and Additional Resources.
Hot Topics review some of the most recent issues that have garnered much attention, such as COVID-19 patients with thrombosis, acute cardiomyopathy or heart failure.
An FAQ and Journal of the American College of Cardiology articles can be found under this section, as well, which focus on practice implications for the treatment of thrombotic disease patients during the COVID-19 pandemic.
One study found a 31% incidence of thrombotic events in COVID-19 ICU patients. This section also includes literature on the management of a hospitalized COVID-19 patient with acute cardiomyopathy or heart failure and evaluation.
The article details the management with sections:
- Cardiac Involvement with SARS-CoV-2 Infection
- Prognosis with Cardiac Biomarker Elevation
- Assessment of Cardiomyopathy in COVID-19
A consensus statement from the ACC, SCAI, and ACEP on the management of an acute myocardial infarction can be found under the Clinical Guidance section. This section also includes a review of standard care for STEMI patients while maximizing safety for the health care team.
A summary of palliative care considerations for cardiovascular disease under COVID-19 gives guidance on the role of palliative care, pre-hospital advanced care planning, care inpatients, care for the dying and creating resiliency with providers.
The Policy Operational Guidelines section includes clinical guidance on a rapid implementation of telehealth for the cardiology clinic and guidance on regulatory and reimbursement resources with COVID-19 coding.
A valuable summary and timeline of recent ongoing efforts to protect clinicians and patients during this pandemic is presented under this section with highlights of communication between the ACC, the Senate and House leaders.
An operational article reviews considerations during COVID-19, details structure, practice operations, redeployment of providers and challenges that may be anticipated in the roll out of practice adjustments.
The Front Line and Clinical Experience section incorporated video clips of front-line perspectives from hard hit areas in the U.S., such as New York, Boston, Detroit and Seattle, share practice innovation and workflow challenges.
This section contains clinical topics that review current and on-going COVID-19 current trials, which have been valuable towards treatment plans.
The last section is Additional COVID-19 Resources, a collection of resource links like the Centers of Medicare and Medicaid Services, Center for Disease and Control, and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, that all provide an extra reference for further information regarding COVID-19.
This article was authored by Jose Chavez, CCRN, CNS, MSN, AACC, clinical nurse specialist of the cardiac intensive care unit at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, CA.
