Clinical judgement, combined with an electrocardiogram (ECG) and blood test on arrival, is effective in reducing unnecessary hospital admissions for chest pain, a study shows. Previous research has shown that typical symptoms in patients presenting to emergency departments have not been useful in differentiating between heart conditions requiring immediate hospital admission – acute coronary syndromes (ACS) – and non-cardiac conditions. This is because the symptoms of patients with heart disease can be similar to those experienced by patients with non-cardiac conditions, such as indigestion. But the latest research led by Dr Richard Body, consultant in [b]Emergency Medicine[/b] at [b]Manchester Royal Infirmary[/b] showed that when combined with an ECG and troponin test, clinical judgement appeared to be an effective tool and the results suggest that at least 25% of patient admissions could have avoided. This was the case regardless of whether the clinician was a consultant or junior doctor.
And new system that sent patients to designated cardiac receiving centres dramatically increased the survival rate of victims of sudden cardiac arrest in [b]Arizona[/b]. [s]HealthCanal[/s] reports that Dr Daniel Spaite, director of [b]EMS Research[/b] at the [b]University of Arizona Emergency Medicine Research Centre[/b] in [b]Phoenix[/b], said: ‘Taking these patients directly to a hospital optimally prepared to treat cardiac arrest gave patients a better chance of survival and of preventing neurologic damage, a common result of these cardiac events.’
[link url=http://www.manchester.ac.uk/discover/news/article/?id=12560]Full press release[/link]
[link url=http://emj.bmj.com/content/31/8/692.1.extract]Emergency Medicine extract[/link]
[link url=http://www.healthcanal.com/blood-heart-circulation/heart-disease/53469-new-ems-system-in-arizona-dramatically-improves-survival-from-cardiac-arrest.html]Full HealthCanal report[/link]
[link url=http://www.annemergmed.com/article/S0196-0644(14)00487-9/abstract]Annemergmed abstract[/link]