Implementation of an experimental two-hour pathway for assessing risk among chest pain patients allowed healthcare workers to safely discharge two-times the number of patients discharged under traditional chest pain protocols, according to an article in JAMA Internal Medicine.
Researchers followed more than 500 recruited patients at an academic hospital between October 2010 and July 2012, measuring the number of patients discharged within six hours and the number of adverse cardiac events in the 30-day period following discharge.
If patients had unimpaired blood flow in the experimental group, researchers implemented a protocol consisting of electrocardiography and troponin tests at zero and two hours.
More than 50 patients, or 20 percent of patients receiving the two-hour triage tests, were discharged within six hours; the same number of patients who were met with a traditional chest pain assessment were discharged within 20 hours.
The study concluded the two-hour pathway has the potential to improve chest pain patient flow, as it requires no additional resources and safely identifies patients who are not in danger of a major adverse cardiac event.
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