Rory Miller, Garry Nixon, John W. Pickering, Tim Stokes, Robin M. Turner, Joanna Young, Marc Gutenstein, Michelle Smith, Tim Norman, Antony Watson, Peter George, Gerald Devlin, Stephen Du Toit, Martin Than. A prospective multi-centre study assessing the safety and effectiveness following the implementation of an accelerated chest pain pathway using point-of-care troponin for use in New Zealand rural hospital and primary care settings,European Heart Journal. Acute Cardiovascular Care, 2022;

OPEN ACCESS https://doi.org/10.1093/ehjacc/zuac037

It’s great to see a significant piece of rural clinical research from NZ published in an international journal. I know many of you contributed to this study.

This has important clinical implications. We now know that we don’t disadvantage our patients when using point of care troponins, as long as we use them as part of the Rural Accelerated Chest Pain Pathway. We also have a clearly defined group of chest pain patients we can assess without admitting to hospital. If the DHBs (or what follows them) can get the funding streams right, there is the potential to manage many of these patients in rural GP, resulting in savings to both patients and the health system.

Well done Rory. This is excellent work!