Testing an emergency care checklist for acute heart failure patients
Tests a care checklist for adults with acute heart failure in emergency departments.
Plain-language title generated from the registry record
Registry title: Implementation of Acute Heart Failure Checklist
Key facts
- Where
- Ottawa, CanadaSee the site
AI summary: who the study is looking for
From the trial's eligibility criteria. Machine-read from the registry text on this page, so it can be wrong. The registry text below and the trial team decide who can take part.
The trial is looking for adults who come to the emergency department with new or worse shortness of breath caused by acute heart failure. Doctors who treat them in the emergency department also take part.
- Age
- Adults over 18 years
- Sex
- All sexes can join
- Disease stage
- Acute heart failure with recent new or worse shortness of breath, seen in the emergency department. Patients who are admitted and patients who go home can both join.
Main reasons for not taking part
- Does not fit the definition of acute heart failure
- Main reason for the emergency visit was not acute heart failure (for example pneumonia or pulmonary embolism)
- Acute heart attack diagnosed in the emergency department
- Terminal illness, with death expected within 60 days
Read by machine on 9 November 2026.
Where in Canada
- Ottawa Hospital Research InstituteOttawa, CanadaNo longer taking part
Questions to ask the study team
- How often do I need to come in, and for how long each time?
- Are travel costs paid?
- Can I keep my own doctor?
- What happens if I want to stop?
Contact the study team: see the registry record → Contacts and Locations
Print a page for my doctorTrial details
- Who runs it
- Ottawa Hospital Research Institute
- Trial code
- NCT07727304
- Record updated
- 16 October 2026
- Original description
Patients with acute heart failure (AHF) commonly present to the emergency department (ED) with difficulty breathing and often have poor outcomes or death. Care of AHF is very complex and, unfortunately, there are no specific guidelines for how physicians should manage AHF in the ED. The investigators recently created the Canadian Association of Emergency Physicians (CAEP) AHF Best Practices Checklist, a concise document that provides specific guidance for ED care.Read full original descriptionShow less
An Implementation Study to Improve Care of Patients With Acute Heart Failure in the Emergency Department
Patients with acute heart failure (AHF) commonly present to the emergency department (ED) with difficulty breathing and often have poor outcomes or death. Care of AHF is very complex and, unfortunately, there are no specific guidelines for how physicians should manage AHF in the ED. The investigators recently created the Canadian Association of Emergency Physicians (CAEP) AHF Best Practices Checklist, a concise document that provides specific guidance for ED care.
Our ultimate goal is to conduct a 12-site cluster study to introduce the CAEP AHF Checklist in multiple EDs. Before the investigators can do so, it is essential to demonstrate feasibility in a smaller-scale study. Our objective for this application is to conduct an internal pilot study to demonstrate feasibility of measuring implementation outcomes and refine the protocol if necessary. The investigators will develop strategies to encourage successful adoption of the Checklist by physicians in the ED and allocate 4 large Ontario EDs to implement the Checklist for 1,700 adult AHF patients.
This study will be very important for patients and the healthcare system. If the investigators show that the CAEP AHF Checklist improves patient management and outcomes, this would lead to widespread uptake of the Checklist by all EDs in Canada.
Inclusion: All resident and staff physicians managing patients with AHF in the ED are the primary study participants and this includes emergency, medicine, cardiology, and hospitalists; The patients that will be included are consecutive adults age >18 years and who present to the ED with recent onset of or recent increase in shortness of breath due to AHF, as determined by health records review; Eligibility of patients will be reviewed by the blinded study Steering Committee; Included will be both patients subsequently admitted to hospital and those discharged from the ED, as both will be impacted by the recommendations of the CAEP AHF Checklist.
Exclusion: who have acute myocardial infarction (either ST elevation or non-ST elevation) diagnosed in the ED, because the primary problem for these patients is not heart failure and they require specialized treatment beyond the scope of the Checklist; or; who do not fit the definition of AHF; if the primary reason for the ED visit was not AHF (e.g. pneumonia, pulmonary embolism); who are considered terminal, with death expected within 60 days.