Evidence map›Paper›PMID 25527871›Full record

ArticleBMC family practice2014

Chest pain out-of-hours - an interview study of primary care physicians' diagnostic approach, tolerance of risk and attitudes to hospital admission.

Robert Anders Burman, Erik Zakariassen, Steinar Hunskaar

Open access · goldAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in BMC family practice, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
3citing papers in PubMed
0.3field-weighted citation impact, top 30% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

3 citing papers in PubMed, 9 citations in OpenAlex.

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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

3 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.

Robert Anders BurmanNational Centre for Emergency Primary Health Care, Uni Research Health, Kalfarveien 31, 5018, Bergen, Norway. robert.burman@uni.no.
Erik ZakariassenNational Centre for Emergency Primary Health Care, Uni Research Health, Kalfarveien 31, 5018, Bergen, Norway. erik.zakariassen@igs.uib.no.
Steinar HunskaarNational Centre for Emergency Primary Health Care, Uni Research Health, Kalfarveien 31, 5018, Bergen, Norway. steinar.hunskar@igs.uib.no.
University of Bergen · NOUni Research (Norway) · NO

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundAcute chest pain constitutes a considerable diagnostic challenge outside hospitals. This will often lead to uncertainty in choosing the right management, and the physicians' approach may be influenced by their knowledge of diagnostic measures and their tolerance of risk. The aim of this study was to investigate primary care physicians' diagnostic approach, tolerance of risk and attitudes to hospital admission in patients with acute chest pain out-of-hours in Norwegian primary care.

methodsData were registered prospectively from four Norwegian casualty clinics. Data from structured telephone interviews with 100 physicians shortly after a consultation with a patient presenting at the casualty clinic with "chest pain" were analysed. Tolerance of risk was measured by the Pearson Risk Scale and the Tolerance of Risk Scale, the latter developed for this study.

results"Patient history and symptoms" was considered the most important, and "negative ECG" and "effect of sublingual nitroglycerine" the least important aspects in the diagnostic approach. There were no significant differences in length of experience or gender when testing "risk avoiders" against the rest. Almost all physicians felt that their risk assessment out-of-hours was reasonably good, and felt reasonably safe, but only 50% agreed with the statement "I don't worry about my decisions after I've made them". Concerning chest pain patients only, 51% of the physicians were worried about complaints being made about them, 75% agreed that admitting someone to hospital put patients in danger of being "over-tested", and 51% were more likely to admit the patient if the patient herself wanted to be admitted.

conclusionsPhysicians working out-of-hours showed considerable differences in their diagnostic approach, and not all physicians diagnose patients with chest pain according to current guidelines and evidence. Continuous medical education must focus on the diagnostic approach in patients with chest pain in primary care and empowerment of physicians through training and emphasis on risk assessment and "tolerance of risk".

Indexed as

After-Hours CareAttitude of Health PersonnelHospitalizationPhysicians, Primary CareAdultChest PainDecision Support Systems, ClinicalFemaleHumansMaleMiddle AgedNorwayQualitative ResearchRisk-Taking

Identifiers

PMID25527871
PMCPMC4278232
OpenAlexW2132643575

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.