Design and implementation of a patient passport in a pediatric cardiology clinic

Communicating a complex cardiac history to healthcare professionals can pose a challenge to caretakers of pediatric cardiology patients. We sought to develop and implement a pediatric cardiology patient passport. We hypothesize that the passport will help facilitate communication and information sharing between caretakers and other healthcare professionals. Based on input from pediatric cardiologists at a major institution, we designed and implemented a patient passport in our pediatric cardiology clinic. Inclusion criteria included patients with a diagnosis of congenital heart disease, conduction abnormality, or arrhythmia. A patient/caretaker survey was conducted to determine the utilization and utility of the passport. A total of 100 patients were enrolled in the study between October 2016 and November 2018. The survey was completed by 43% (n = 43) of passport recipients. 88% (n = 35) were “extremely likely” or “somewhat likely” to use the passport in the future. 97% (n = 38) said they “definitely would recommend” or “might recommend” the passport to other pediatric cardiology patients and their families. 97% (n = 38) felt the passport will be helpful in the future when transitioning to adult cardiology. 43% (n = 17) of respondents had used the passport by the time of the survey. Of those who used the passport, 88% (n = 15) felt that the passport made communicating with the healthcare professional easier. No respondents (n = 0) said that the passport was not helpful in their interaction. Introduction of a patient passport in an outpatient cardiology clinic may be beneficial. Our results suggest that patient caretakers feel that a patient passport can help facilitate both communication and information sharing with other healthcare professionals. •A portable patient passport was created using input from pediatric cardiologists.•The passport was distributed to patient caretakers to use with medical providers.•A survey was conducted to obtain opinions regarding the utility of the passport.•Caretakers felt the passport helped improve communication with providers.