Emergency Department Assessment of Acute-Onset Chest Pain
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention states that chest pain is one of the most common reasons for visits to the emergency room made by individuals older than 15.
Chest pain can have a variety of causes with several implications, making it one of the most challenging symptoms for medical professionals to accurately diagnose.
How Emergency Departments Assess Acute Chest Pain
To accurately determine the cause of chest pain, the emergency department takes some important measures. Emergency departments need to be able to draw inferences from the patient’s unique health history – this is especially important when the chest pain leading to an ER visit hasn’t been preceded by any pattern of symptoms experienced in the past. Causes of chest pain can vary from minor issues like stress or indigestion to serious medical emergencies like pulmonary embolism or a heart attack. Furthermore, diseases of the aorta, heart, lungs, stomach, esophagus, may all cause chest discomfort.
Modern medical research has determined chest pain to be one of the primary symptoms of acute coronary syndrome (ACS). In addition to a surface-level clinical examination, the most basic criteria for determining the risk for ACS is a history of coronary artery disease (CAD) and electrocardiographic trials.
The greatest challenge posed to ER care providers tends to be identifying those who are suffering from ACS in the low-risk category. Patients admitted to the ER for chest pain who don’t have their ACS diagnosed before being discharged home have a mortality rate that’s twice as high as those admitted to the hospital.
Emergency Room in Cibolo
Regardless of the cause of chest pain, if you have unexplained chest pain that lasts for more than a few minutes, it’s best to seek emergency medical assistance. Because the level of severity of the cause of chest pain can be so ambiguous, it’s extremely important for you to always choose emergency assistance over self-diagnosis.
Physicians Premier is a freestanding ER dedicated to providing top-notch care for chest pain and other medical emergencies that you may not see coming. At Physicians Premier, patients of all ages can receive immediate attention for their medical emergency. If you’re located in Cibolo and would like to know more about how Physicians Premier can keep you one step ahead of your chest pain at all times, feel free to contact us today.
