Abstract 340: Analysis of Post Cardiac Arrest Recovery Services

Introduction: Cardiac arrest survivors may suffer sustained functional, psychiatric and cognitive impairments . Survivors’ perspectives on outpatient services necessary for recovery are unknown. Hypothesis: Survivors rate the usefulness of certain outpatient services more highly than others. Methods: We performed a structured phone interview of patients treated from 2010 to 2018 at a single center after cardiac arrest who survived at least one year. We asked survivors or their proxies about their experiences with physician, rehabilitation and care coordination services. Survivors rated usefulness of each resource on a Likert scale (1 “not useful” to 4 “essential”) and identified the single most useful resource. Results: We interviewed 25 survivors. All received outpatient physician services (24 primary care (PCP); 19 cardiologist, 7 neurologist, and 7 other). Subjects identified PCP (12/25, 48%) and cardiologist (12/25, 48%) services most useful. Seventeen (68%) subjects received outpatient rehabilitation (13 physical therapy; 9 occupational therapy; 8 speech therapy; 8 cardiac rehab; and 1 pulmonary rehab). Subjects considered physical therapy (9/17, 53%) and cardiac rehab (6/17, 35%) most useful. Nine (36%) subjects received care coordination (5 psychological; 4 case management; 3 home nursing). Median rating of usefulness for all services was 3. Only three subjects rated either cardiologist, physical therapy or psychological services as non-useful. Conclusion: Cardiac arrest survivors may require multiple and varied outpatient services. The most beneficial services include PCP, cardiologist and physical therapy. Survivors vary in their needs, and care should be tailored to the individual.