Central aim: Adopting cross-border expertise, we will develop and implement a telemonitoring platform (to facilitate exercise in the home-based environment) and expert centre to improve postoperative care of surgical treatment for atrial fibrillation, leading to reduced disease burden for patients, lower healthcare costs, and decreased workload for healthcare providers.
Rationale: Atrial fibrillation is the most common arrhythmia, present in 6% of the population in Western countries. The presence of atrial fibrillation significantly increases the risk of diseases (heart failure, stroke, dementia) and reduces the quality of life, making a substantial impact on the patient, healthcare costs, and society. Current care for atrial fibrillation heavily focuses on ablation, a surgical procedure to restore rhythm. In the Euregio Rijn-Waal region, 1,500 patients receive this intervention annually. Unfortunately, within 1 year, atrial fibrillation recurs in 25-50% of these patients. This necessitates new, effective ways to reduce symptoms associated with atrial fibrillation.
This project combines cross-border experience around ablation (EVK Düsseldorf, Median AGZ Düsseldorf), exercise (Radboudumc), and telemedicine (Rijnstate), leading to: 1. the implementation of a telemedicine platform after ablation, and 2. an expertise center for atrial fibrillation. Recently, we found that exercise reduces the likelihood of premature death and diseases in patients with atrial fibrillation. In current healthcare, exercise plays only a limited role for patients with atrial fibrillation. Therefore, we want to collectively implement exercise in the home setting. This project shares cross-border knowledge, experience, and expertise, leading to a telemedicine platform focused on exercise (in the home setting) and an expertise center for atrial fibrillation. This results in: 1. Reduced disease burden, 2. Fewer complications, 3. Cost savings, and 4. Reduced workload for healthcare personnel.
