Although an ECG and timely evaluation are the norm, some patient subgroups may have to wait longer than others.
Chest pain, a very common symptom among individuals presenting to the emergency department (ED), can signal a life-threatening emergency or a benign condition. Rapid acquisition and evaluation of electrocardiogram data is so important that most hospitals monitor door-to-ECG time as a benchmark of quality care. Investigators recently used information from the National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey to characterize ED visits by patients aged ≥25 years whose main symptom was chest pain. They calculated nationwide estimates from these figures and U.S. population data.
Comment
In 2004, 5.3 million chest-pain ED visits occurred, with 25% of such visits involving individuals aged ≥65. Only 25% of the patients arrived by ambulan…