• Jesse T T McLaren, Monika Kapoor, Soojin L Yi, and Lucas B Chartier.
• Emergency Department, University Health Network, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
• J Emerg Med. 2021 Jan 1; 60 (1): 25-34.

BackgroundThere is no quality metric for emergency physicians' diagnostic time for acute coronary occlusion.ObjectiveWe sought to quantify diagnostic time associated with automated interpretation, classic ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) criteria, STEMI-equivalents, and subtle occlusions, using electrocardiogram (ECG)-to-activation of catheterization laboratory time.MethodsThis multicenter retrospective study reviewed all code STEMI patients from the emergency department (ED) with confirmed culprit lesions from January 2016 to December 2018. We measured door-to-ECG (DTE) time and ECG-to-activation (ETA) time. We examined the first ED ECGs to determine whether automated interpretation labeled "STEMI," and they met classic STEMI criteria, STEMI-equivalents, or rules for subtle occlusion. ECG analysis was performed by two emergency physicians blinded to clinical scenario, automated interpretation, and angiographic outcome.ResultsThere were 177 code STEMIs with culprit lesions, with a median DTE time of 9.0 min and a median ETA time of 16.0 min. Automated interpretation labeled 55.4% of first ECGs "STEMI" (ETA 6.5 min) and 44.6% not "STEMI" (ETA 66 min, p < 0.0001). Of first ECGs, 63.8% met classic STEMI criteria (ETA 8.0 min), 8.5% had STEMI-equivalents (ETA 32.0 min, p = 0.0026), 16.4% had subtle occlusions (ETA 89.0 min, p = 0.045), and 11.3% had no diagnostic sign of occlusion (ETA 68.0 min, p = 0.20).ConclusionsSTEMI criteria missed more than one-third of occlusions on first ECG, but most had STEMI-equivalents or rules for subtle occlusion. ETA time can serve as a quality metric for emergency physicians to promote new ECG insights and assess quality improvement initiatives.Copyright © 2020 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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