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SHORT TITLE
Cardiac Risk profile in ED in Australian Tertiary referral hospital (CREDIT study)
FULL TITLE

Prospective cohort study of cardiac risk profile of Emergency Department patients with chest pain: a comparative analysis of risk stratification tools.
GRANT TYPE
Emergency Medicine Staff Specialist Research Grant
AMOUNT AWARDED
$50,000

Investigators

Name
Hospital
Department
Uni Department
University/
Institution
Dr Ellen Burkett
Princess Alexandra Hospital
Department of Emergency Medicine


Prof Thomas Marwick
Princess Alexandra Hospital

Department of Medicine
University of Qld
Dr Michael Sinnott
Princess Alexandra Hospital
Department of Emergency Medicine


Prof Anne-Maree Kelly
Western Health
Joseph Epstein Centre for Emergency Medicine



Chest pain remains one of the most common complaints in patients presenting to Australian emergency departments. The personal and financial costs associated with these patients cause a significant burden to the Australian health system. Use of specifically designed methods to predict risk in patients presenting to the emergency department with chest pain have been shown to improve clinical decision making, reduce cost, prevent unnecessary admissions to coronary care beds and allows patients to be better informed of their outlook.

Our study has 2 aims:
Firstly, to assess and describe in detail the risk profile of patients presenting to a major Australian hospital Emergency Department with non-traumatic chest pain.
Secondly, we will compare the National Heart Foundation of Australia risk rules (which form the basis of a State-wide initiative by Queensland Health to improve clinical care) to 2 other already proven methods of determining risk to discover which of these tools is the best predictor of risk of death or heart-related complications at 72 hours and 30 days.

We aim to enrol 440 patients presenting to the Princess Alexandra Hospital Emergency Department with chest pain over a 1 year period. Patients will be assessed and managed as per normal but all will have their level of risk assessed by the 3 different methods (which combine information from patient history, clinical examination and investigation results). Patients will be followed up in hospital and at 30 days and their outcomes will be compared to those predicted by each risk prediction method.

This project is the first step in a program of research to find the safest and most cost-effective way to investigate and manage patients who present to an Emergency Department with chest pain.