AF Stat released updates to the AFib Educator, a free
smartphone app and desktop widget designed to help healthcare providers better
explain atrial fibrillation (AFib) to their patients.
AFib is the most common form of irregular heartbeat,
affecting an estimated 2.5 million Americans, a figure that could increase to
12 million by 2050. A complex and poorly-understood disease, AFib is associated
with a reduced quality of life, worsens other heart diseases, and increases
risk for stroke, hospitalization and death.
The AFib Educator 2.0 visually demonstrates the
importance of the management strategies defined in the American Heart
Association, American College of Cardiology and Heart Rhythm Society AFib
clinical treatment guidelines: rate control, rhythm control, and stroke
prevention.
“The first-generation AFib Educator has proven to be
a very effective tool for helping explain to patients what happens to the heart
during AFib,” said Eric Prystowsky, M.D., Director of the Clinical
Electrophysiology Laboratory at St. Vincent Indianapolis Hospital and AF Stat’s
medical chair.
“The updated app helps physicians extend that
discussion to illustrate how the heart may respond to different management
strategies, and the risks patients may face from not comprehensively managing
the disease,” Prystowsky added.
New animations show patients important potential
consequences of AFib, including stroke risk and heart remodeling. One animation
shows how a blood clot can form and flow to the brain, causing an AFib-related
stroke; while another illustrates heart remodeling, in which the heart changes
size and shape as a result of being in AFib over time.
AFib Educator 2.0 also includes popular features from the
original application, including important patient resources about the signs,
symptoms and prevalence of AFib; links to resources where patients can learn
more about the disease; and an “e-mail a friend” feature, which
allows healthcare professionals to e-mail background information directly to
patients.
By Telecomlead.com Team
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