Effects of crowding in the emergency department on the diagnosis and management of suspected acute coronary syndrome using rapid algorithms: an observational study

Objectives Fast diagnostic algorithms using high-sensitivity troponin (hsTn) in suspected acute coronary syndrome (ACS) are regarded as beneficial to expedite diagnosis and safe discharge of patients in crowded emergency departments (ED). This study investigates the effects of crowding on process times related to the diagnostic protocol itself or other time delays, and outcomes.Design Prospective single-centre observational study.Setting ED (Germany).Participants Final study population of 2525 consecutive patients with suspected ACS within 12 months, after exclusion of patients with ST-elevation myocardial infarction, missing blood samples, referral from other hospitals or repeated visits.Interventions Use of fast algorithms as per 2015 European Society of Cardiology guidelines.Main outcome measures Crowding was defined as mismatch between patient numbers and monitoring capacities, or mean physician time per case, categorised as normal, high and very high crowding. Outcome measures were length of ED stay, direct discharge from ED, laboratory turn around times (TAT), utilisation of fast algorithms, absolute and relative non-laboratory time, as well as mortality.Results Crowding was associated with increased length of ED stay (3.75–4.89 hours, p