Patient Education and Recovery Learning System (PEARLS) pathway: a tool to drive patient centered evidence-based...

Myocardial infarction is a significant problem for Americans and individuals in developed countries. According to the American Heart Association, coronary heart disease is the single largest killer of Americans. Variation in practice is recognized as a key barrier to promoting positive outcomes in patients with cardiac illness. Implementation of clinical practice guidelines has been identified as one way to promote evidence-based practice, reduce practice variation, and ultimately improve the quality of care and outcomes of cardiac patients. Improving patient knowledge and understanding of guideline recommendations and the ways in which evidence-based recommendations are linked to recovery is recognized as one means of facilitating guideline adherence. Automated patient pathways are proposed as a means to improve patient access to guideline-based information at the point of care. Within this context, the prototype development of a Patient Education And Recovery Learning System, or PEARLS, is discussed along with the potential benefits of the use of automated patient pathways as one means for overcoming challenges associated with acute care patient education and facilitating patient adherence to clinical practice guideline recommendations.