Chest pain symptom scoring can improve the quality of referrals to Rapid Access Chest Pain Clinic

"Chest pain symptom scoring resulted in improved GP discrimination of chest pain, improved referral quality, fewer overall referrals to RACPC and shorter patient wait times. These benefits were achieved without using additional financial resources and without the time or capital expense of training GPs."

Chest pain symptom scoring can improve the quality of referrals to Rapid Access Chest Pain Clinic
K Sinhji Rathod, H Ward, F Farooqi
BMJ Quality Improvement Reports 2014;3

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Myocardial infarction (acute): Early rule out using high-sensitivity troponin tests

NICE have created a costing statement and audit tool to help implement and assess the impact of diagnostic guidance for acute Myocardial infarction.

Myocardial infarction (acute): Early rule out using high-sensitivity troponin tests (Elecsys Troponin T high-sensitive, ARCHITECT STAT High Sensitive Troponin-I and AccuTnI+3 assays)
NICE
October 2014

Access the tools here.

Variations and inter-relationship in outcome from emergency admissions in England

"Hospital-level risk-standardised outcomes for emergency admissions across a range of specialties vary considerably and cross traditional speciality boundaries. This suggests that global institutional infra-structure and processes of care influence outcomes."

Variations and inter-relationship in outcome from emergency admissions in England: a retrospective analysis of Hospital Episode Statistics from 2005-2010
PJ Holt, S Sinha, BA Ozdemir, A Karthikesalingam, JD Poloniecki, MM Thompson
BMC Health Services Research, 2014, 14: 270

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The effect of a national quality improvement collaborative on prehospital care

"This first national prehospital QIC led to significant improvements in ambulance care for AMI and stroke in England. The use of care bundles as measures, clinical engagement, application of quality improvement methods, provider prompts, individualized feedback and opportunities for learning and interaction within and across organizations helped the collaborative to achieve its aims."

The effect of a national quality improvement collaborative on prehospital care for acute myocardial infarction and stroke in England
AN Siriwardena, D Shaw, N Essam, FJ Togher, Z Davy, A Spaight, M Dewey
Implementation Science, 2014, 9:17

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Contemporary evidence about hospital strategies for reducing 30-day readmissions

"Although most hospitals have a written objective of reducing preventable readmissions of patients with heart failure or acute myocardial infarction, the implementation of recommended practices varied widely."

Contemporary evidence about hospital strategies for reducing 30-day readmissions: a national study
EH Bradley, et al.
Journal of the American College of Cardiology, 2012, online first

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Getting care right for patients after a heart attack

"Not all providers offer all four phases of cardiac rehabilitation which are set out in the National Service Framework for Coronary Heart Disease."

After the event: getting care right for patients after a heart attack
Heart UK
January 2012

Read more here.