Abstract
Background: Practice guidelines exist for treatment of post-operative atrial fibrillation (PAOF); however, no accepted algorithm exists to guide treatment.|Objective: To determine if patients treated according to an investigator-compiled practice algorithm based on the American College of Cardiology (ACC)/American Heart Association (AHA)/European Society of Cardiology (ESC) guidelines have better outcomes when compared to patients whose treatment does not follow this algorithm.|Methods: A retrospective, descriptive study was conducted on a convenient sample all cardiac surgery patients from 2011 to 2013 at an urban, Midwestern Medical center (N = 140). Subjects whose treatment followed the investigator-compiled algorithm and associated outcomes were compared to those whose treatment did not.|Results: Twenty-six (34.67%) of 75 subjects who met the inclusion criteria were treated according to the investigator-compiled algorithm. The majority of subjects were Caucasian males who underwent coronary artery bypass graft (CABG). Patients who were treated according to the algorithm were found to have a 3.08 times greater odds of conversion into normal sinus rhythm, than those whose treatment deterred from the algorithm (p = 0.1979). A significant difference was detected in time spent in the intensive care unit (ICU) between groups (p = 0.0451). No other significant differences in outcomes were detected.|Conclusions: Few patients were treated according to the algorithm, suggesting that extensive education is needed in order to translate ACC/AHA/ESC guidelines into practice. This algorithm has the potential to facilitate treatment which is in agreement with evidence-based best practices, reduce ICU costs, and improve conversion rates.