Annals of emergency medicine
-
Multicenter Study
Variation in management of recent-onset atrial fibrillation and flutter among academic hospital emergency departments.
Although recent-onset atrial fibrillation and flutter are common arrhythmias managed in the emergency department (ED), there is insufficient evidence to help physicians choose between 2 competing treatment strategies, rate control and rhythm control. We seek to evaluate variation in ED management practices for recent-onset atrial fibrillation and flutter patients at multiple Canadian sites and to determine whether hospital site was an independent predictor of attempted cardioversion. ⋯ We demonstrated a high degree of variation in management approaches for recent-onset atrial fibrillation and flutter patients treated in academic hospital EDs. Individual hospital site, age, previous cardioversion, and associated heart failure were independent predictors for the use of rhythm control.