Optimising secondary prevention medication post-ACS: version 1.7
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Patients’ perspectives on the optimisation of secondary prevention medication following acute coronary syndromes
IRAS ID
199533
Contact name
Louise Brindle
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University Hospitals Southampton NHS Foundation Trust
Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier
18873, ERGO ID number
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 7 months, 30 days
Research summary
For patients with established coronary artery disease guidelines recommend specific medications that have been shown to prevent further cardiac events when taken at high doses. The blood pressure and heart rate lowering effects of some of these medications mean that the doses of these drugs have to be increased gradually, which is difficult to achieve in hospital when the duration of admission can be as short as 48 hours. NICE acknowledge the limitations of prescribing these high doses prior to discharge and recommends that guidance on further dose increases are made to the general practitioner (GP) via the discharge summary. However, the evidence suggests that dose optimisation of secondary prevention medications is not being achieved in a significant proportion of patients and the reasons why this is not being achieved require further investigation in order that appropriate suggestions for interventions aimed at improving the situation can be made.
Patients who have had a cardiac stent or who have had a heart attack and are under the care of one of the interventional cardiologists at the Wessex Cardiac Unit will be initially approached and invited to discuss the study at their first routine follow-up appointment after discharge from hospital by a member of their care team. Following written informed consent the participants will be asked a series of questions by the researcher using a semi-structured interview format. The aim of the questions will be to explore the facilitators and barriers to the optimisation of cardiac secondary prevention medication from the patients' perspectives. Potential participants will be approached in the period between April 2016 and August 2016 with the aim of recruiting up to 35 participants in total.
REC name
London - City & East Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
16/LO/0778
Date of REC Opinion
29 Apr 2016
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion