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Completed

NCT Number: NCT01644006

Telemedical Support in Prehospital Emergency Care of Acute Coronary Syndrome

The aim of the study is to investigate the quality of prehospital emergency care in acute coronary syndromes, when paramedics are supported telemedically by an EMS physician.

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Key information

Conditions

Acute Coronary Syndrome Cardiovascular Diseases Heart Diseases Myocardial Ischemia Vascular Diseases

Age range

18 year and older

Sex eligibility

All sexes

Study type

Interventional

Phase

Not applicable

Primary location

University Hospital Aachen

Aachen, 52074, Germany

About this study

Six ambulances from five different Emergency Medical Service (EMS) districts are equipped with a portable telemedicine system. In cases of suspected acute coronary syndrome (including STEMI), the paramedics can use this system to contact a so called "tele-EMS physician" after consent of the patient is obtained. The tele-EMS physician has an audio-connection to the EMS team and receives vital parameters (e.g., ECG, pulse oximetry, non-invasive blood pressure) in real-time. Also 12-lead-ECGs can transmitted to the tele-EMS physician. The transmission of still pictures - taken with a smartphone - and video streaming from the inside of the ambulance can be carried out, if meaningful. The tele-EMS physician supports the EMS team in obtaining all relevant medical history, ECG diagnosis, general diagnosis and can delegate the application of medications. This can be carried out to bridge the time to the arrival of an EMS physician or in less severe cases without an EMS physician on-scene.

The quality of prehospital care and the possible influences on the initial inhospital phase should be investigated and compared with regular EMS.

Who can participate

Healthy volunteers accepted: No

Only the study team can determine whether someone qualifies for participation.

Inclusion criteria

  • Suspected acute coronary syndrome
  • Verbal consent for teleconsultation obtained or patient is not able to consent due to the severity of the emergency

Exclusion criteria

  • Patient refuses consent to teleconsultation
  • No suspected acute coronary syndrome

Treatment and study plan

Teleconsultation

Procedure

Teleconsultation of an EMS physician to support the paramedics in acute coronary syndromes

Primary outcomes

  1. Quality of prehospital care

    Time frame: average 1 hour

    Analysis of the quality of the prehospital care on the basis of published guidelines for ACS / STEMI

Secondary outcomes

  1. Inhospital time intervals in STEMI

    Time frame: up to 12 hours

    contact to balloon time, arrival to balloon time

  2. Rate of secondary transfer for PCI

    Time frame: up to 7 days

    Rate of secondary transfer to a different facility for PCI

  3. Troponin-Level

    Time frame: 24 hours

    Severity of infarction measured with level of Troponin

  4. Conducted procedures and medications (paramedics)

    Time frame: average 1 hour

    Amount of guidelines based procedures and medications carried out by paramedics prior to the contact with a physician.

  5. prehospital time intervals

    Time frame: average 1 hour

    on-scene time, contact (EMS) to hospital arrival time, transport time

Sponsors and collaborators

Lead sponsor

RWTH Aachen University

Other

Registry information

Official study title

Telemedical Support in Prehospital Emergency Care of Acute Coronary Syndromes

Important dates

Study start
2012
Primary completion
2013
Study completion
2015
First posted
Jul 18, 2012
Registry last updated
Sep 22, 2015

OpenTrials presents study information sourced from ClinicalTrials.gov. The official registry record should be consulted for the latest information.

View the official ClinicalTrials.gov record (opens in a new tab)

This listing is for discovery and informational purposes only. It is not medical advice, does not guarantee that a study is recruiting, and does not determine eligibility. Contact the study team and a qualified healthcare professional when considering participation.

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