Management of patients with low-risk chest pain at the time of admission: a prospective study on a non-selected population from the Emergency Department.

Background: The management of patients with acute chest pain is a common and difficult challenge from the epidemiological, clinical, organizational and malpractice points of view. Our purpose was to test and implement a simple clinical protocol for the management of patients with acute chest pain and at low-risk for an acute coronary syndrome (ACS) at the time of admission to the Emergency Department (ED).

Methods: During a 5-month study period, 570 consecutive patients were admitted to the ED with acute chest pain: 224 patients were excluded owing to the presence of a clear diagnosis of an ACS or of high-risk factors.

[Is a more efficient operative strategy feasible for the emergency management of the patient with acute chest pain?].

Patients with acute chest pain are a common problem and a difficult challenge for clinicians. In the United States more than 5 million patients are examined in the emergency department on a yearly basis, at a cost of 6 billion dollars. In the CHEPER registry the prevalence of patients with chest pain in the Emergency Department was 5.

Italian experience with automated external defibrillators (AED).

In order to achieve widespread use of automated external defibrillators (AEDs) in Italy, we evaluated several models of AEDs in different clinical and artificial settings. We enrolled 268 consecutive patients with various rhythms and arrhythmias. Among these, 129 patients were referred to two different hospitals and 139 were enrolled by the pre-hospital care providers.