Cardiac Chart Review Part 1: Key Diagnoses and Implications for Care

Effective chart review is a foundational skill in acute care practice, especially for patients with cardiovascular disease—the leading cause of hospitalization and mortality in the United States. This course provides acute care clinicians with a structured approach to reviewing cardiac patient charts, with an emphasis on understanding key diagnoses, terminology, and their implications for clinical care. Covering chronic conditions, acute events, congenital disorders, and electrophysiological abnormalities, this course helps clinicians anticipate functional status, medical complexity, safety considerations, and likely discharge pathways. Designed for practitioners working in hospital-based settings, this course supports early evaluation, interdisciplinary care coordination, and informed intervention planning.

Learning Objectives

• Deconstruct terminology commonly found in acute care medical documentation to identify common cardiac diagnoses and clinical conditions
• Practice a structured approach to chart review that supports evaluation priorities, safety considerations, and early intervention planning
• Analyze the implications of each diagnosis for patient safety, expected functional presentation, and typical prognoses in the acute care setting
• Correlate diagnoses with their typical medical / surgical treatments to inform triaging and interdisciplinary care coordination
• Relate specific cardiac diagnoses to likely interventions, discharge trajectories (e.g., home, SNF, inpatient rehab), and resource needs across the care continuum