Systematic Screening for Comorbid Psychological Conditions in Cardiac Ambulatory Care Sensitive Conditions (ACSC) Patients With Multimorbidity in the Emergency Departments (ED)

The specific aims of EMASPOT are primarily to determine the prevalence of mental health conditions (MHC) (i.e., symptoms of depression, anxiety, somatoform disorders, and alcohol abuse) in patients with multimorbidity and cardiac ACSC in a prospective cohort study.

The study population comprises patients admitted to an ED in Berlin-Mitte during the study period from 01.06.2017 to 31.05.2018 with cardiac complaints who are admitted to the hospital or discharged from ED. The study focusses especially on older and multimorbid patients. Multimorbidity is defined as the presence of more than two chronic diagnoses.

After having given informed consent patients are enrolled in the study and interviewed by a study nurse. Self-reported symptom burden for depression, anxiety disorders, somatoform disorders, alcohol abuse as well as frequency of utilization of health care services are assessed. Medical data will be abstracted from medical charts and include somatic comorbidities, medication and diagnostic procedures and interventions during hospitalization.

Individual semi-structured interviews will be conducted with 30 patients to assess the treatment expectations and underlying motives for ED-visits, as well as with 30 health care professionals to investigate perceptions of challenges regarding identification and treatment of patients with MHC.

All patients will have a 6-months follow-up after discharge from the ED. The follow-up is conducted either by telephone calls, e-mail or via mail. The follow-up data will include mental health conditions as assessed at baseline, frequency of utilization of health care services and health-related quality of life.