issn 1652-4063
isbn 978-91-7668-859-5 Örebro Studies in Medicine 67örebro 2012
Doctoral Dissertation
The Initial Phase of an Acute Coronary Syndrome
Symptoms, patients’ response to symptoms and opportunity
to reduce time to seek care and to increase ambulance use
Marie Thuresson Medical Science 2012
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Marie Thuresson is a registered nurse with specialist qualifications in the field of acute cardiac care. She is employed at the Department of Cardiology, Örebro University Hospital, Sweden.
Since 2004, she has been conducting her research project at the School of Health and Medical Sciences, Örebro University, Sweden.
Individuals who experience symptoms of acute coronary syndrome (ACS) often delay in seeking medical care. A short delay between the onset of symptoms and the initiation of reperfusion treatment in ACS is crucial for the outcome and reduces mortality and morbidity. Despite this, only a minority of patients suitable for reperfusion treatment receives therapy within one to two hours after the onset of symptoms. Furthermore, calling the emergency number for an ambulance is advised when experiencing symptoms of ACS, but this is seldom done as the first course of action. Previous attempts at community interventions aimed at reducing pre-hospital delay and increasing ambulance use in ACS have had limited success. In order to achieve a behavioural change, it is important to increase our knowledge about ACS symptom presentation, actions after symptom onset and the reasons people do not respond appropriately to symptoms.
This thesis describes the initial phase of an ACS in overall terms from a national perspective, in total and in various subgroups, and evaluates the impact of an information campaign designed to inform the public about how to act when suspecting an ACS.
