Can clinical assessment of chest pain be made more therapeutic?

摘要

We describe the referral and management of con- secutive patients attending a cardiac service with the presenting complaint of chest pain. Of 610 consecutive new referrals to five Oxford cardiac clinics over 12 weeks, 02 had chest pain as the presenting complaint; 91 (45/100) angina, 101 (50/100) non-ardiac chest pain, 8 (4/100) both and 2 (1/100) uncertain diagnosis. Information in clinic letters was sometimes ambiguous and contradict- ory and suggested a lack of precise information to patients.