A tool that predicts adverse events in acute heart failure patients made by researchers at the University of Ottawa in Ontario, Canada, was shown to be effective and sufficient for use in clinical practice.

The full study that assesses the Ottawa Heart Failure Risk Scale (OHFRS) was published in the journal Academic Emergency Medicine.

The scale helps physicians make rational disposition plans in the emergency department and will help standardize admission practices and decrease the number of unnecessary admissions. Physicians should be able to use it to safely discharge patients with heart failure from the emergency department without ever having to admit them.

Serious adverse events were defined as death within 30 days, intubation, MI or a relapse resulting in hospital admission within 14 days.

"Our goal is to improve care for our emergency department patients with heart failure by identifying those at higher risk for poor outcomes through use of the OHFRS,” said Ian G. Stiell, MD, MSc, the author on the study and a professor and clinical research chair at the University of Ottawa, in a statement. “Those with higher scores should be admitted while the many patients with lower scores could be discharged home. When available quantitative NT-ProBNP values improve accuracy of the scale."