Effect of an ongoing educational program on the use of antiplatelet drugs, beta-blockers, angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors, and lipid-lowering drugs in patients with coronary artery disease seen in an academic cardiology clinic.

The effect of an ongoing educational program on the use of cardiovascular drugs in patients with coronary artery disease without contraindications to these drugs seen in an academic cardiology clinic was assessed in 100 patients seen during the 6-month period prior to the educational program and in 200 patients seen 9 to 20 months after the onset of the educational program. Following the educational program, the use of aspirin, clopidogrel, or warfarin increased from 69 to 99%, the use of beta- blockers increased from 57 to 98%, the use of angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors or angiotensin receptor blockers increased from 41 to 97%, and the use of lipid-lowering drugs in patients with dyslipidemia increased from 54 to 98% in patients without contraindications to these drugs.