Table 4.

Basic questions that should be answered in a telephone interview with patients who have ischemic heart disease, heart failure, or atrial fibrillation

Condition	Key aspects	Questions for patients
Ischemic heart disease	Do they have angina?	Do they have chest pain? Have they needed sublingual nitroglycerin? How often?
	Do they have heart failure?	Do they feel more respiratory distress, breathless, or tired than usual? Are their ankles swollen?
	Are cardiovascular risk factors under control?	Do they smoke? Are they following a healthy diet? Do they exercise? What blood pressure medication are they taking? Have they gained or lost weight?
	Is their treatment adherence adequate?	Have they ever forgotten a dose of medication? How often?
	Have they had any adverse effects from the medication?	Do they have muscle pain? Do they feel dizzy or more tired than usual? Do they have bruising?
Heart failure	What is their functional class?	How far can they walk? Have they stopped doing any activity since the last revision?
	Do they have congestion?	Have they gained weight? Have they needed to begin or increase a diuretic (furosemide or equivalent)? Is there increased edema in the ankles or abdominal girth?
	Have they been hospitalized?	Have they been in hospital recently (since the last appointment) or visited the emergency department?
	Have they new symptoms or have previous symptoms worsened?	Do they have chest pain? Have they lost consciousness at any time? Do they have palpitations?
	Are they tolerating the medicine?	In the case of a recent treatment change, have they noticed any changes in symptoms, such as blood pressure, pulse, or diuresis?
Atrial fibrillation	What type of AF do they have?	Is this the first episode of palpitations? If not, how many times have they occurred? With what frequency?
	Are they stable?	Are they similar to other episodes? Do the patients know their blood pressure and heart rate? What are their symptoms (eg, palpitations, dyspnea, syncope, chest pain)?
	Evaluation of treatment	Is there a known trigger? How long have previous episodes lasted? Can any tracings be sent electronically?
	Treatment of symptoms	What treatment are they currently receiving? Do they know their blood pressure and heart rate? Can any tracings be sent electronically?
	Do they require antithrombotic medication? Which one?	Ask about the criteria of the CHA2DS2-VASc scale Are they taking any antithrombotic medication? In the case of vitamin K antagonists, how is the INR control? In the case of direct anticoagulants, what dosage do they take? Have they ever forgotten to take them?

AF, atrial fibrillation; INR, International Normalized Ratio.