Do pre-hospital electrocardiograms increase heart attack survival, and are they used enough?

Use and impact of the pre-hospital 12-lead electrocardiogram in the primary PCI era. Mixed method study (PHECG-2)

When someone has a suspected heart attack, the ambulance service can test the electrical activity of a person’s the heart to determine the best treatment for them. In a previous project, Professor Tom Quinn and colleagues showed that people who had a special type of test – called a pre-hospital electrocardiogram, or PHECG – had a better chance of survival. But they also noted that a third of eligible patients didn’t receive the test even though this test has been incorporated in the international guidelines for the pre-hospital emergency care of patients who have had a heart attack. Since their earlier study looking at the use of PHECG in 2008-2009, there have been major changes in the treatment of people with heart attacks and an increased emphasis on the use of PHECG. In this new project, the team will update the analysis on a more recent group of patients. They will establish how often PHECG is used, how decisions are made to run the test or not, and whether PHECG still leads to better patient outcomes. If the PHECG is still associated with better survival rates, this research will identify ways to increase its use by ambulance services to increase the chance of survival of even more people who have a heart attack.