• Sandrine Charpentier, Sebastien Beaune, Luc Marie Joly, Abdo Khoury, François-Xavier Duchateau, Raphael Briot, Bertrand Renaud, François-Xavier Ageron, and IRU Network.
• Emergency Department, Toulouse Rangueil University Hospital.
• Eur J Emerg Med. 2018 Dec 1; 25 (6): 404-410.

ObjectiveThe aim of this paper was to describe the epidemiology, and diagnostic and therapeutic strategies that emergency physicians use to manage patients presenting with chest pain at all three levels of the French emergency medical system - that is, dispatch centres (SAMUs: the medical emergency system), which operate the mobile intensive care units (MICUs), and hospitals' emergency departments (EDs), with a focus on acute coronary syndrome (ACS).Patients And MethodsAll patients with chest pain who contacted a SAMU and/or were managed by a MICU and/or were admitted into an ED were included in a 1-day multicentre prospective study carried out in January 2013. Data on diagnostic and therapeutic management and disposition were collected. An in-hospital follow-up was performed.ResultsIn total, 1339 patients were included: 537 from SAMU, 187 attended by a MICU and 615 in EDs. Diagnosing ACS was the main diagnostic strategy of the French emergency care system, diagnosed in 16% of SAMU patients, 25% of MICU patients and 10% of ED patients. Among patients calling the SAMU, 76 (14%) received only medical advice, 15 (8%) patients remained at home after being seen by a MICU and 454 (74%) were discharged from an ED.ConclusionManagement of chest pain at the three levels of the French medical emergency system is mainly oriented towards ruling out ACS. The strategy of diagnostic management is based on minimizing missed diagnoses of ACS.

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