The acute coronary syndrome--pre-hospital diagnostic quality.
OBJECTIVE
In the Austrian emergency medical service (EMS), emergency medical technician-staffed and physician-staffed vehicles are in operation. Patients with suspected acute coronary syndromes (ACS) are treated in the pre-hospital phase and transported to the hospital by an emergency physician (EP). This study evaluates the diagnostic performance of EPs in ACS and the impact of this emergency system on the outcome of ACS in an urban area.


METHODS
Retrospective case control study.


METHODS
All protocol sheets from the emergency physicians were searched for the diagnosis of ACS. The database of the emergency department (ED) was searched for patients with ACS as an admission diagnosis or ACS as discharge diagnosis. For patients admitted to an intensive care unit (ICU), the medical history from the ICU was reviewed. According to the diagnosis and the aggressiveness of therapy, patients were divided in five categories of severity at each stage of care (pre-hospital category, ED category, ICU category).


RESULTS
A total of 3585 patients was analysed. Only 17.8% of the patients with ACS as the admission diagnosis and 20.3% of the patients with ACS as the discharge diagnosis were transported by an EP. 46.8% of the ACS diagnosis by EPs were confirmed in hospital. Patients transported by EPs showed a higher all-cause mortality in hospital (1.6% vs. 0.6%; p=0.011). There was no significant correlation between the pre-hospital category of patients treated by EPs and the ED category. When a 12-lead-electrocardiogram was recorded, the correlation improved slightly (rho: 0.139; p=0.006).


CONCLUSIONS
The percentage of ACS patients transported to hospital by an EP is very low, and EPs seem to be "over-aware" in the diagnosis of ACS.
Gemes
G
G
Medizinercorps Graz, Austrian Red Cross, Münzgrabenstrasse 171, 8010 Graz, Austria.
Fuchs
T J
TJ
Wildner
G
G
Smolle-Jüttner
F M
FM
Smolle
J
J
Stoschitzky
K
K
Prause
G
G
D000208:Acute Disease; D001317:Austria / Q000453:epidemiology; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D003327:Coronary Disease / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000401:mortality; D003422:Critical Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D004562:Electrocardiography / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D004632:Emergency Medical Services / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D004635:Emergency Medicine / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D004636:Emergency Service, Hospital / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006760:Hospitalization / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D010043:Outcome and Process Assessment, Health Care; D011787:Quality of Health Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D016019:Survival Analysis; D013577:Syndrome; D015912:Thrombolytic Therapy / Q000706:statistics & numerical data