Comparison Between Anatomical and Functional Imaging Modalities for Evaluation of Chest Pain in the Emergency Department.

Evaluation of chest pain in the emergency department (ED) frequently employs a noninvasive strategy, including coronary computed tomography angiography (CCTA), stress echocardiography (SE), or myocardial perfusion imaging (MPI). We sought to report the real-world experience of utilizing CCTA compared with SE and MPI at an urban hospital ED. We conducted a retrospective cohort study of consecutively enrolled patients presenting with chest pain who had normal or nondiagnostic electrocardiogram (ECG), negative initial troponin-T, at least intermediate risk based on modified Diamond-Forrester criteria, and who underwent CCTA, SE, or MPI based on their individual test eligibility criteria.

Coronary Computed Tomography Angiography Versus Stress Echocardiography in Acute Chest Pain: A Randomized Controlled Trial.

Objectives: This study sought to compare early emergency department (ED) use of coronary computed tomography angiography (CTA) and stress echocardiography (SE) head-to-head.

Background: Coronary CTA has been promoted as the early ED chest pain triage imaging method of choice, whereas SE is often overlooked in this setting and involves no ionizing radiation.

Methods: The authors randomized 400 consecutive low- to intermediate-risk ED acute chest pain patients without known coronary artery disease and a negative initial serum troponin level to immediate coronary CTA (n = 201) or SE (n = 199).

Using smartphones to improve interdisciplinary collaboration.

Most individuals in the United States have access to and use smartphones to facilitate effective collaboration. Health information technology is invaluable to the improvement of collaboration and communication in the healthcare setting. The versatile nature of technology has demonstrated that healthcare professionals are dependent on its use.

The effectiveness of structured interdisciplinary collaboration for adult home hospice patients on patient satisfaction and hospital admissions and re-admissions: a systematic review.

Background: Patient satisfaction and hospital re-admission rates are the two major outcomes for measuring quality of healthcare delivery. Interdisciplinary collaboration, a concept that describes coordination of care between multiple healthcare professionals and patients and families to deliver the highest quality of care across settings, is fundamental to improving patient outcomes. Home hospice care is palliative in nature and is a critical segment of patient care.

Rationale and design of a randomized trial comparing initial stress echocardiography versus coronary CT angiography in low-to-intermediate risk emergency department patients with chest pain.

Background: Comparative effectiveness research (CER) has become a major focus of cardiovascular disease investigation to optimize diagnosis and treatment paradigms and decrease healthcare expenditures. Acute chest pain is a highly prevalent reason for evaluation in the Emergency Department (ED) that results in hospital admission for many patients and excess expense. Improvement in noninvasive diagnostic algorithms can potentially reduce unnecessary admissions.