Academic emergency medicine : official journal of the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine
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To determine the ability to complete follow-up home telephone calls to ED patients. ⋯ Almost half of the patients who present to the ED and supply home telephone numbers give telephone numbers at which they cannot be reached in follow-up. Using telephone follow-up alone to reach patients seen in the ED may be an unreliable method of communication.
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Comparative Study
Serial electrocardiograms for chest pain patients with initial nondiagnostic electrocardiograms: implications for thrombolytic therapy.
To determine the proportion of acute myocardial infarction (AMI) patients without ST-segment elevation who subsequently develop ST-segment elevation during their hospital courses; and to compare demographics and presenting features of AMI patient subgroups: those with initial ST-segment elevation, those with in-hospital ST-segment elevation, and those with no ST-segment elevation. ⋯ Most patients with AMI do not meet ECG criteria for the administration of thrombolytic therapy. A significant minority (20%) of the admitted chest pain patients with subsequently confirmed AMIs developed ECG criteria for thrombolytics during their hospitalizations. Further attention to such patients who have delayed ST-segment elevation is warranted. A standardized in-hospital serial ECG protocol should be considered to identify admitted patients who develop criteria for thrombolytic or other coronary revascularization therapy.