The Interdisciplinary Emergency Department in Conjunction with Chest Pain Units, Chest Pain Ambulances and Cardiac Arrest Centers

The emergency or acute medical care of the population is gaining more and more importance. In Germany, hundreds of thousands patients present every year with chest pain in emergency departments. Of these about 10-20% show an acute coronary syndrome. In addition, 75000 pre-hospital resuscitations are performed each year, of which more than 60% are cardiac-related. These patients are primarily delivered to an emergency department, which should provide structures to quickly and efficiently diagnose and initiate life-saving interventions. Nowadays, the emergency room should be affiliated with chest pain units, stroke units, chest pain relief centers and, if possible, cardiac arrest centers (CAC), which enable interdisciplinary care by internists, neurologists and anesthesiologists to substantially improve patients prognosis via a rapid diagnostic process and initiation of optimal therapy. In our review, we will focus on the interactions of the emergency department with the CPU, BSA and CAC.