A Study on the Post-acute Care for Cardiovascular Disease

1. INTRODUCTION China has entered the high-pressure period of cardiovascular disease. The incidence of cardiovascular disease is still rising. It has become a great threaten for the health of Chinese resident and the social economy development. The comprehensiveness and complexity of the influencing factors of cardiovascular disease determine the long-term and arduous task of prevention and treatment. It is necessary to coordinate the resources of all parties and improve the mechanism of comprehensive prevention and treatment of cardiovascular disease with multi department cooperation. At present, due to the limited medical resources, high cost of hospitalization and the shortage of hospital beds, the average length of stay of patients is gradually shortened, resulting in an increasing number of patients with cardiovascular disease who are discharged immediately after acute treatment. Although the emergency problems of the disease have been solved during hospitalization, there is still a period of transition in the process of rehabilitation before returning to the family and society. Therefore, long-term and systematic management after discharge is the most important measure to improve the prognosis of patients with cardiovascular disease. Post-acute care (PAC) is the most important guarantee to provide continuous medical care for patients with cardiovascular diseases. Readiness for hospital discharge is the key link between emergency care and post-acute care, which helps to shorten the length of hospital stay, reduce the rate of readmission, improve the quality of life of patients with cardiovascular diseases and reduce medical costs. In recent years, China's post-acute care system has made a series of achievements, but it is still distributed in the form of dots, and there is no mature working mode. Therefore, it is urgent to build a characteristic post-acute care system for cardiovascular diseases based on China's national conditions. However, Understanding the details of patients' demands is the key and the first step in building the post-acute care system for cardiovascular diseases. This study will provide an effective tool for the investigation of the detailed demands for post-acute care in cardiovascular disease and provide a better understanding of the demands for the patients with cardiovascular disease.
2. THE STUDY 2.1 Aims The aims of this study are 1) to determine the demand of post-acute care among patients with cardiovascular disease in China; 2) to identify the details of demands especially which have value for the post-acute care for patients with cardiovascular disease.

2.2 Study Design This is a single-center, prospective cohort study conducted at a tertiary teaching hospital in Shanghai, China.

2.3 Setting The study will be conducted in the cardiology department in Zhongshan hospital, Shanghai, China, which is the largest hospital in Shanghai with 2005 beds.

Cardiology department focuses on interventional diagnosis and treatment of complex and difficult cardiovascular diseases with 527 beds and 503 nurses and physicians. Approximately more than 24000 patients per year are admitted, including angina pectoris, acute myocardial infarction, atrial fibrillation, atrial flutter, premature ventricular contractions, atrioventricular block, sick sinus syndrome, pulmonary hypertension, congenital heart disease, rheumatic heart disease, valvular disease, heart failure, cardiomyopathy, myocarditis, etc.

2.4 Participants Inclusion Criteria Patients with cardiovascular disease aged above 18. The patients are aware of the disease condition. The patients can read and understand independently and participate in this study voluntarily.