Guideline-Directed Medical Therapy—Secondary Prevention Checklist

The rapid evolution of medical technology and knowledge in cardiovascular disease management presents a challenge to health care providers. The Guideline-Directed Medical Therapy—Secondary Prevention Checklist (SPC) has been formulated to address the practical aspects of the clinical encounter, notably time constraints, the nuances of care, current gaps in guideline knowledge, patient adherence, and acceptance of therapy (the Secondary Prevention Checklist is available as Supplemental Appendix S1). The SPC, which has been developed according to evidence-based recommendations to optimize management of vascular events, encompasses 3 stages of patient care: the first post acute coronary syndromes (ACS)/percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) visit, the 3-month follow-up, and the 1-year post-event visit.