In brief: The ACC and AHA have updated their landmark 2021 guideline for evaluating and managing patients presenting with chest pain.
Chest pain is among the most common reasons for an adult to present to an emergency department (ED) in the US. The condition accounts for more than 7 million ED visits annually, and quickly differentiating between cardiac-related and non-cardiac-related chest pain is essential to saving lives.
In October 2021, the American College of Cardiology (ACC) and the American Heart Association (AHA) published the first clincial guideline dedicated to the evaluation and management of adult patients presenting with chest pain. The guideline provided much-needed clarity for healthcare providers to reduce variation in care and treatment.
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Less than a year later, the ACC and AHA have again collaborated to issue an important update to the 2021 guideline. This time the clarification establishes key language and data standards.
One Year Later: An Important Update
The 2022 ACC/AHA Key Data Elements and Definitions for Chest Pain and Acute Myocardial Infarction (AMI) report standardizes key terms and definitions that healthcare providers use when discussing the diagnosis and treatment of chest pain and AMI. This important update provides a foundational lexicon for patient care and management, as well as for clinical data reporting and exchanges. These updated terms should be applicable across all patient care settings, electronic health records (EHRs), quality and performance registries, and publicly reported data sites.
Top 10 Takeaways
The ACC and AHA have provided a list of the top 10 take-home messages from their updated guidline report. Summarized below, these 10 key messages have direct implications and benefits for CV providers and programs.
What This Update Means for CV Practices
This ACC and AHA report is an important step toward eliminating variation in clinical care and data, and as a result, adults presenting to the ED with chest pain or AMI will benefit from the timely and precise triage of symptoms. This standardization of language and data elements also allows organizations to reduce unnecessary procedures and observation stays, and helps ensure patients receive the right care from the right provider at the right time.
Beyond the direct patient care impact of this document, standardizing CV terms and definitions is an important step toward integrating data found in quality registries and supporting a shared understanding of CV research and study findings. This updated guideline advances how data will be compared, shared, and exchanged more seamlessly in the future, which will undoubtedly have a positive impact on the CV community.
Edited by: Matt Maslin
Published September 13, 2022