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An evaluation of two Rapid Access Chest Pain Clinics in central Lancashire, UK
Author(s) -
Rajpura Arif,
Sethi Su,
Taylor Martin
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
journal of evaluation in clinical practice
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.737
H-Index - 73
eISSN - 1365-2753
pISSN - 1356-1294
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2753.2006.00696.x
Subject(s) - medicine , chest pain , referral , physical therapy , angina , incidence (geometry) , emergency medicine , medical emergency , family medicine , myocardial infarction , physics , optics
Aim The aim of the project was to assess critically, using Maxwell’s six dimensions, the quality of the services provided by the two Rapid Access Chest Pain Clinics (RACPCs) in Central Lancashire. Methods Data on the actual use of the clinic was obtained from the two RACPCs. A record linkage exercise between the database of patients from the RACPC and HES/mortality data was performed. Expected use of the clinic was established from the performance of other RACPCs and from published angina incidence figures. Patient and general practitioner views were obtained by conducting questionnaire surveys. Key recommendations (1) Clinic is providing a valuable service and should be continued. (2) A standardized database should be created which includes ethnicity and final diagnosis. (3) Alternative methods for rapid diagnosis and management of chest pain need to be provided for patients who are not suitable for the exercise electrocardiogram. (4) Referral criteria should be redrafted in order to remove the exclusion criteria for patients with chest pain of longer duration than 3 months. (5) Further resources need to be targeted at cardiology outpatients and revascularizations, as waiting times for patients with a positive test are felt to be too long.