Tele-Electrocardiography in Emergency Cardiac Care

University of California San Francisco (UCSF)

Status and phase: Completed; Phase 3

Conditions: Chest Pain; Myocardial Infarction

Treatments: Device: Electrocardiogram (ECG) Intervention; Other: Routine Clinical Practice

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other; NIH

Identifiers

NCT00075088

R01NR007881 (U.S. NIH Grant/Contract)

1R01NR007881-01A2

Details and patient eligibility

About

The purpose of this study is to see whether individuals who access the "911" emergency medical system with a heart attack or severe chest pain will receive more timely hospital treatment and better outcomes if hospital clinicians are provided with earlier and more complete electrocardiography (ECG) information.

Full description

This is a Phase III study. Patients will be randomized (like tossing a coin) to 1 of 2 groups: Group 1: Patients will have pre-hospital ECG intervention. Group 2: Patients will have routine emergency heart care. Information will be collected about time symptoms started, clinical management, and other measures. All patients will be contacted by telephone 12 months later and interviewed as to whether they experienced any cardiac symptoms.

Enrollment: 794 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18+ years old

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• All individuals in Santa Cruz County in California who call 911 with symptoms of acute coronary syndrome (chest pain, shortness of breath, anginal equivalent).

Exclusion criteria

• Those who don't meet the above inclusion criteria.

Trial design

Primary purpose: Diagnostic

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: None (Open label)

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794 participants in 2 patient groups

Electrocardiogram (ECG) Intervention

Experimental group

Description:

Patients randomized to the experimental group had their ECGs printed out in the target ED with an audible voice alarm. Print-out of the pre-hospital ECG in the target ED was the intervention.

Treatment:

Device: Electrocardiogram (ECG) Intervention

Routine Clinical Practice

Other group

Description:

Control patients had an ECG conducted after hospital arrival, as was the standard of care in the county.

Treatment:

Other: Routine Clinical Practice