Erin Flatley, RN, MSN, AGNP-BC discusses her upcoming Heart Rhythm 2023 presentation, entitled "How to Get Patients to Prepare for AF Ablation and Follow Through on Lifestyle Modification."

Transcripts:

Summarize the background and relevance of the topic. What are the take-home messages you would like viewers to leave with?

Erin Flatley: It is a big topic and a lot to cover, but I think it is really important information for clinicians, and in particular, APPs, to have some background on these topics. We'll talk a little bit about educating patients about the procedure, and at that point, even before the procedure, I think is when we start to present to patients how they can best set themselves up for success. Catheter ablation is probably our best tool. It's a great option. We've come so far with it. But even with paroxysmal AF patients, success rates are still 70%-80%, so it's important that we utilize all the tools we have available to us to try to increase that and maximize success for our patients. There has been a lot of great data that has come out in the last couple of years that has given us a lot of information and different avenues, such as alcohol cessation, weight maintenance, and treating other conditions like sleep apnea. There is a recent paper that came out about a formal exercise program for patients to try to prevent recurrences. So, we have all this information, and it's important for us as clinicians to be familiar with it so that we can come up with a plan for each patient and be able to talk to them about how and why we're asking them to do these things.

What are you looking forward to at Heart Rhythm 2023?

Erin Flatley: I'm looking forward to connecting with colleagues that I only get to see once a year. I am also always interested in the late-breaker sessions. I love to soak those in! It makes for the best water cooler talk after the meetings. Also, the APP/AHP programming is always great and tailored to us, so I look forward to that as well.