Direct patient telephone access to the coronary care unit: its use and impact on admission delays

Direct telephone access for patients to the Hutt Hospital coronary care unit (CCU) was established in 1989. This paper describes initial experience of 200 consecutive calls and a subsequent study of its impact on admission delays in a further 295 patients. The majority of calls were received between 4 am and noon. Those relating to chest pain made between 4 and 8 am were more likely to be followed by admission than at other times, p less than 0.001. Use of the direct line was associated with quicker admission, 212 (SE 23.2) min compared with 359.2 (23.0), p less than 0.001. For patients with myocardial infarction the difference was even greater, 115 (28.9) (median 90 min) compared with 344.9 (18.9) (median 212 min), p less than 0.001. We conclude that free telephone access to the CCU is a valuable aid to acute coronary care.