Adaptation of a preventive and educational cardiac program Educardio to the needs of non-infected cardiac patients during COVID-19 crisis

BACKGROUND: The mondial pandemic COVID-19 is unprecedented. About one third of humanity has been asked to live on confinement. Cardiac patients could suffer from non-COVID complications due to the lack of adapted medical care of their chronic disease. PURPOSE: To provide cardiac patients with tele-care, tele-medicine, tele-prevention and tele-education by a pluri-professional cardiac health team during French confinement. METHODS: In March 2020, many hospital caregivers have been assigned to intensive care units or COVID (+) medicine departments (1st row). Then, COVID (−) cardiac ICU or medical departments represented 2nd row. Nevertheless, as non-emergency care was cancelled or reported, we assigned a specific team focused on COVID (−) chronic ambulatory cardiac patients, representing the 3rd row of Bordeaux cardiologic university hospital teams. This 3rd row team applied a systematic tele-procedure to cardiac patients followed in Bordeaux Cardiologic Hospital. RESULTS: Four hundred and seventeen patients received tele-care from March 25th to April 10th, 2020. A first phone call was made by either a nurse, a care assistant or a pharmacy student (mean duration of call = 12 min). Conclusion was systematically noted: patient is fine (n = 330) /non-cardiac problem handled by the caller (n = 48) /need for non-urgent cardiac tele-consultation (n = 30) /need for urgent cardiac tele-consultation (n = 9). All patients received phone number and email address of our team and were told that they could call or send email at any time during confinement. CONCLUSION: Our pluri-disciplinary and coordinated tele-procedure associating care, adapted individual preventive and educative messages and medical tele-consultations provided cardiac patients with different services according to the severity of their needs during COVID-19 crisis. It may have lowered the rate of excess morbi-mortality not related to COVID but to cardiac complications in patients deprived of their current care during confinement.