Detecting high-risk patients with chest pain

AIM: To assess the ability of nurses using the Manchester Triage System (MTS) to identify those patients with chest pain requiring immediate electrocardiogram (ECG) and physician assessment within ten minutes. METHOD: A four-week prospective cohort of all patients attending with chest pain compared detection of risk by nurses using the MTS to that of researchers using best available evidence-based prognostic indicators from history. RESULTS: The study of 167 patients showed that nurses using MTS had a sensitivity of 86.8 per cent (95 per cent confidence interval (CI), 78.4-92.3 per cent) and a specificity of 72.4 per cent (95 per cent CI, 61.4-81.2 per cent) when identifying high risk cardiac chest pain. CONCLUSION: Nurses using the MTS are a sensitive tool for identifying high risk cardiac chest pain but further work is required to assess whether additional training can improve sensitivity.