Patient-Centered Teamwork: The Power of Multidisciplinary Heart Care.

The heart and blood vessels make up the cardiovascular system, a complex network that is essential to life. Providing excellent heart care takes a team of experts working together and communicating to benefit our patients. 

MedStar Heart and Vascular Institute includes more than 200 specialists across 10 hospitals who work to help patients prevent heart disease and treat it with a variety of advanced methods.

The members of MedStar Washington Hospital Center’s nationally-recognized cardiology teams collaborate to treat tens of thousands of patients each year, and has been recognized with top rankings for aortic valve surgery, heart attack, heart bypass surgery, heart failure, and transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TVAR). 

When you’re getting treatment for heart disease, you can interact with many people at throughout the care process. With all the different roles and responsibilities, it can be enough to make your heart race!

Our heart team members are working toward the same goal: The best outcomes for every individual patient.

Personalized care for heart conditions.

There are many effective treatments for a wide array of heart conditions. From lifestyle modifications to major heart surgery, every patient needs a different treatment plan.

For instance, a patient with a mild heart murmur could be treated by a small team. A cardiologist and a cardiac nurse would work closely with this patient to decide upon medications such as blood thinners and lifestyle changes such as increasing exercise. 

Patients with advanced heart failure or coronary artery disease, on the other hand, could be treated by a much larger team. If a heart transplant is required, as many as 80 experts from surgeons to rehabilitation specialists are involved in patient care. 

In every case, providing excellent care is an ongoing, coordinated effort. We discuss the best course of patient care in weekly meetings that combine the expertise of 50 or more heart specialists, from general cardiologists to cardiac surgeons. 

Related reading: Cardio-Obstetrics: Supporting Heart Health Through Pregnancy and Beyond.

Meet the experts on your cardiac care team.

Cardiovascular teams can be large and diverse, but they play a central role in the treatment of many conditions. There are several key players to know when it comes to caring for your heart.

Cardiologist.

A cardiologist is a doctor who diagnoses, treats, and manages heart conditions including heart failure, arrhythmia, valve disease, and coronary artery disease. 

Often, your cardiologist will be the main point of contact for your heart care. They will discuss medications and lifestyle modifications that can reduce your risk of heart attack, stroke, and heart failure. Should you need treatment from another heart specialist, your cardiologist will work closely with them on that care, and meet with you afterwards, too. 

Cardiac surgeon.

A cardiac surgeon is a doctor who specializes in heart surgery,  including complex procedures such as bypasses, valve replacements, and transplants.

Most often,  surgery is a part of the larger treatment plan, so their involvement with each patient is shorter. Cardiac surgeons work closely with cardiologists and other members of the care team to decide if and when surgery can help.

Key team members.

Other members of a patient’s cardiac care team are determined by the specifics of their treatment. Specialists can include:
​

• Interventional cardiologist: Heart doctors who specialize in minimally invasive procedures such as angioplasty or stent placement.

• Electrophysiologist: These specialists treat heart rhythm disorders with procedures such as ablation or by implanting devices like pacemakers.

• Cardiac imaging specialists: Experts in imaging the heart and blood vessels use a variety of techniques, including X-ray, ultrasound, CT scan, MRI, PET scan, and more.

• Advanced practice provider: Nurses and physician assistants provide expert care and education for patients with heart conditions.

• Dietitian, pharmacist, and rehabilitation therapist: These experts help patients manage their lifestyles, medications, and risk factors after treatment.

• Social worker and psychologist: Specialists who help patients address the social and emotional challenges of heart health.

Multidisciplinary cardiac care teams provide the best outcomes for our patients, so we bring everyone to the table when it’s time to make treatment decisions. That includes patients and their families, too.

Related reading: Robotic-assisted Heart Surgery Comes to Washington, D.C.

Patient-centered approaches to shared decision-making.

We work closely with patients and their families so everyone understands all the options, and we ensure they play an active role in the decisions about their care.

Gone are the days of one-sided “doctor knows best” decision-making. While we have expertise in heart medicine, you have expertise in you. In practice, this means open, honest conversations early in the treatment planning process. This ensure important decisions about medications, surgery, and other modalities are made with each patient’s circumstances and preferences are weighed along with medical priorities.

For instance, a patient who’s stable after a mild heart attack might be unable to take time off from work to recover from bypass surgery. Assuming it’s safe, we’d discuss alternatives to surgery like medications that can help.

Studies have outlined the benefits of this patient-centered, multidisciplinary approach to heart care, including improved survival. Patients benefit from a broad scope of expert viewpoints, leading to a treatment plan that is customized to their specific condition. The most complex cardiac cases are examined from every angle, ensuring our team’s recommendations leverage the expertise of the entire team.

Related reading: Patient-focused Teamwork: Our Path to National Rankings for Cardiology and Heart Surgery.

Working together for your heart.

The heart is a complicated organ: supplying vital oxygen and nutrients to the entire body is the source of our life. So when something goes wrong, it’s good to know there’s a whole team of specialists working together on your side.

From cardiologists to cardiac surgeons, from dietitians to social workers, all the members of the team have one goal: The best possible care for our patients. Working together makes that possible, and the best outcomes happen when our patients are at the center of the conversation.