Ottawa's virtual cardiac prevention clinic

Bridging the gap between new evidence and practice is an ongoing struggle for physicians.

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To help them stay on top of things, a team from the Ottawa Cardiovascular Centre (www.ottawacvcentre.com) has created an electronic resource to provide clinicians with accessible, up-to-date distillations of the latest cardiovascular research, along with patient information and evidence-implementation tools.

Dr. Joel Niznick, deputy chief of cardiology at the Riverside Site of the Ottawa Hospital and a managing partner at the Ottawa Cardiovascular Centre, is principal author of the Cardiovascular Toolbox (www.cvtoolbox.com).

He says there is no shortage of data and guidelines for reducing cardiovascular mortality. “Unfortunately, the evidence shows that we are far from accomplishing optimal therapy. There is a huge gap between what we know and what we do. I'm trying to bridge this gap using these online tools.”

He developed the Toolbox from his own collection of working documents and resources, which he and his colleagues have been using in their practices.

The site, which is supported by unrestricted education grants from several pharmaceutical companies, provides access to a wide variety of tools and information aimed at physicians and patients. The content ranges from diabetes-management resources to a section on cholesterol and a CV-risk checklist that forms the core of what Niznick calls a “virtual cardiac prevention clinic.”

“For a long time we've been focused on having experts produce appropriate and applicable guidelines, but that's not enough. We need to make them accessible, and that's what we're trying to with this site.” — Michael OReilly, mike{at}oreilly.net