Guideline adherence among prehospital emergency nurses when caring for patients with chest pain: a prospective cohort study

Abstract Background The emergency medical services (EMS) use guidelines to describe optimal patient care for a wide range of clinical conditions and symptoms. The intent is to guide personnel to provide patient care in line with best practice. The aim of this study is to describe adherence to such guidelines among prehospital emergency nurses (PENs) when caring for patients with chest pain. Objective To describe guideline adherence among PENs when caring for patients with chest pain. To investigate whether guideline adherence is associated with patient age, sex or final diagnosis of acute myocardial infarction on hospital discharge. Methods Guideline adherence in terms of patient examination and pharmaceutical treatment was analysed in a cohort of 2092 EMS missions carried out in 2018 in Region Halland, Sweden. Multivariate regression was used to describe how guideline adherence is associated with patient age, sex and diagnosis on hospital discharge. Results Guideline adherence was high regarding examination of vital signs (93%) and electrocardiogram (ECG) registration (96%) but lower in terms of pharmaceutical treatment (ranging from 28 to 90%). Adherence was increased in cases in which the patient ended up with acute myocardial infarction (AMI) as diagnosis on discharge. Patients with AMI were given acetylsalicylic acid by PENs in 50% of cases. Women were less likely than men to receive treatment with acetylsalicylic acid and oxycodone. Conclusions Guideline adherence among PENs when caring for patients with chest pain is satisfactory in terms vital signs and ECG registration. Regarding pharmaceutical treatment guideline adherence is defective. Improved adherence is mainly associated with male sex in patients and a diagnosis of AMI on hospital discharge. Defective adherence excludes measures known to improve patients’ prognoses such as treatment with acetylsalicylic acid.

Download Full-text

Ten-year mortality for patients discharged after hospitalization for chest pain or other symptoms raising suspicion of acute myocardial infarction in relation to hospital discharge diagnosis

Journal of Internal Medicine ◽

10.1046/j.1365-2796.2002.00994.x ◽

2002 ◽

Vol 251 (6) ◽

pp. 526-532

Author(s):

J. Herlitz ◽

B. W. Karlson ◽

M. Sjolin ◽

J. Lindquist

Keyword(s):

Myocardial Infarction ◽

Acute Myocardial Infarction ◽

Chest Pain ◽

Hospital Discharge ◽

Discharge Diagnosis ◽

Hospital Discharge Diagnosis

Download Full-text

Diagnostic markers for discriminating between acute aortic dissection and acute myocardial infarction during the pre-hospital phase: analysis of 3,195 cases

European Heart Journal ◽

10.1093/ehjci/ehaa946.2326 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 41 (Supplement_2) ◽

Author(s):

K Watanabe ◽

H Yoshino ◽

T Takahashi ◽

M Usui ◽

K Akutsu ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Myocardial Infarction ◽

Acute Myocardial Infarction ◽

Back Pain ◽

Chest Pain ◽

Aortic Dissection ◽

Acute Aortic Dissection ◽

Diagnostic Markers ◽

Network Database ◽

History Of ◽

First Contact

Abstract Both acute aortic dissection (AAD) and acute myocardial infarction (AMI) present with chest pain and are life-threatening diseases that require early diagnosis and treatment for better clinical outcome. However, two critical diseases in the very acute phase are sometimes difficult to differentiate, especially prior to arrival at the hospital for urgent diagnosis and selection of specific treatment. The aim of our study was to clarify the diagnostic markers acquired from the information gathered from medical history taking and physical examination for discriminating AAD from AMI by using data from the Tokyo Cardiovascular Care Unit (CCU) Network database. We examined the clinical features and laboratory data of patients with AAD and AMI who were admitted to the hospital in Tokyo between January 2013 and December 2015 by using the Tokyo CCU Network database. The Tokyo CCU Network consists of >60 hospitals that fulfil certain clinical criteria and receive patients from ambulance units coordinated by the Tokyo Fire Department. Of 15,061 patients diagnosed as having AAD and AMI, 3,195 with chest pain within 2 hours after symptom onset (537 AAD and 2,658 AMI) were examined. The patients with out-of-hospital cardiac arrest were excluded. We compared the clinical data of the patients with chest pain who were diagnosed as having AAD and AMI. The following indicators were more frequent or had higher values among those with AAD: female sex (38% vs. 20%, P<0.001), systolic blood pressures (SBPs) at the time of first contact by the emergency crew (142 mmHg vs. 127 mmHg), back pain in addition to chest pain (54% vs. 5%, P<0.001), history of hypertension (73% vs. 58%, P<0.001), SBP ≥150 mmHg (39% vs. 22%, P<0.001), back pain combined with SBP ≥150 mmHg (23% vs. 0.8%, P<0.001), and back pain with SBP <90 mmHg (4.5% vs. 0.1%, P<0.001). The following data were less frequently observed among those with AAD: diabetes mellitus (7% vs. 28%, P<0.001), dyslipidaemia (17% vs. 42%, P<0.001), and history of smoking (48% vs. 61%, P<0.001). The multivariate regression analysis suggested that back pain with SBP ≥150 mmHg (odds ratio [OR] 47; 95% confidence interval [CI] 28–77; P<0.001), back pain with SBP <90 mmHg (OR 68, 95% CI 16–297, P<0.001), and history of smoking (OR 0.49, 95% CI 0.38–0.63, P<0.001) were the independent markers of AAD. The sensitivity and specificity of back pain with SBPs of ≥150 mmHg and back pain with SBPs <90 mmHg for detecting AAD were 23% and 99%, and 4% and 99%, respectively. In patients with chest pain suspicious of AAD and AMI, “back pain accompanied by chest pain with SBP ≥150 mmHg” or “back pain accompanied by chest pain with SBP <90 mmH” is a reliable diagnostic marker of AAD with high specificity, although the sensitivity was low. The two SBP values with back pain are markers that may be useful for the ambulance crew at their first contact with patients with chest pain. Funding Acknowledgement Type of funding source: None

Download Full-text

Heparin Neutralizing Activity in the Diagnosis of Acute Myocardial Infarction

10.1055/s-0039-1689202 ◽

1975 ◽

Author(s):

J. R. O’Brien ◽

M. D. Etherington ◽

S. Jamieson ◽

J. Sussex

Keyword(s):

Myocardial Infarction ◽

Acute Myocardial Infarction ◽

Chest Pain ◽

Acute Chest Pain ◽

Platelet Factor 4 ◽

Clotting Time ◽

Platelet Factor ◽

Neutralizing Activity ◽

Platelet Poor Plasma ◽

Activated Platelets

We have previously demonstrated that, relative to controls, patients long after myocardial infarction and patients with atherosclerosis have highly significantly shorter heparin thrombin clotting times (HTCT) using platelet poor plasma; but there was considerable overlap between the two groups.We have now studied 89 patients admitted with acute chest pain. In 54 of these a firm diagnosis of acute myocardial infarction (ac-MI) was made and the HTCT was very short (mean 12.8 sees) and in 48 it was less than 16 sees. In 34 patients, ac-MI was excluded and the diagnosis was usually “angina”; the HTCT was much longer (mean 25.1 sees) and in 32 it was over 16 sees. Thus there was almost no overlap between these two groups. It is suggested that this test should be adopted as a quick and reliable further test to establish a diagnosis of ac-MI (providing other reasons for very short HTCTs can be excluded, e.g. D. I. C., and provinding the patient’s thrombin clotting time is normal).This HTCT measures non-specific heparin neutralizing activity; nevertheless the evidence suggests that it is measuring platelet factor 4 liberated from damaged or “activated” platelets into the plasma. These findings underline the probable important contribution of platelets in ac-MI.

Download Full-text

Use of Circulating MicroRNAs to Diagnose Acute Myocardial Infarction

Clinical Chemistry ◽

10.1373/clinchem.2011.173823 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 58 (3) ◽

pp. 559-567 ◽

Cited By ~ 160

Author(s):

Yvan Devaux ◽

Mélanie Vausort ◽

Emeline Goretti ◽

Petr V Nazarov ◽

Francisco Azuaje ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Myocardial Infarction ◽

Acute Myocardial Infarction ◽

Chest Pain ◽

Troponin T ◽

Correct Diagnosis ◽

Patient Treatment ◽

Healthy Controls ◽

Clinical Model ◽

Acute Mi ◽

St Elevation

Abstract BACKGROUND Rapid and correct diagnosis of acute myocardial infarction (MI) has an important impact on patient treatment and prognosis. We compared the diagnostic performance of high-sensitivity cardiac troponin T (hs-cTnT) and cardiac enriched microRNAs (miRNAs) in patients with MI. METHODS Circulating concentrations of cardiac-enriched miR-208b and miR-499 were measured by quantitative PCR in a case-control study of 510 MI patients referred for primary mechanical reperfusion and 87 healthy controls. RESULTS miRNA-208b and miR-499 were highly increased in MI patients (>105-fold, P < 0.001) and nearly undetectable in healthy controls. Patients with ST-elevation MI (n= 397) had higher miRNA concentrations than patients with non–ST-elevation MI (n = 113) (P < 0.001). Both miRNAs correlated with peak concentrations of creatine kinase and cTnT (P < 10−9). miRNAs and hs-cTnT were already detectable in the plasma 1 h after onset of chest pain. In patients who presented <3 h after onset of pain, miR-499 was positive in 93% of patients and hs-cTnT in 88% of patients (P= 0.78). Overall, miR-499 and hs-cTnT provided comparable diagnostic value with areas under the ROC curves of 0.97. The reclassification index of miR-499 to a clinical model including several risk factors and hs-cTnT was not significant (P = 0.15). CONCLUSION Circulating miRNAs are powerful markers of acute MI. Their usefulness in the establishment of a rapid and accurate diagnosis of acute MI remains to be determined in unselected populations of patients with acute chest pain.

Download Full-text