Background: The current practice at a large urban academic emergency department (ED) is to obtain screening electrocardiograms (ECGs) as part of the medical screening on all psychiatric patients who test positive for cocaine.
Objective: We sought to examine the impact of an ECG in the medical screening of chest pain-free psychiatric patients who test positive for cocaine.
Methods: An institutional review board-approved retrospective chart review from January 2014 to December 2015 was performed on charts of adult ED patients requiring medical screening before transfer to a psychiatric facility. Patients who tested positive for cocaine on urine drug screens were included in this study. Patients with chest pain or those who did not have an ECG recorded were excluded. Outcomes evaluated included disposition and subsequent cardiac work-up.
Results: One thousand nine hundred sixty-eight ED patients were identified who tested positive for cocaine on a urine toxicology screen, and 853 met the inclusion criteria. ECGs were normal in 812 patients (95% [95% confidence interval 93-96%]) and abnormal in 41 patients (5% [95% confidence interval 4-7%]). Of 41 patients with abnormal ECGs, 4 were admitted for cardiac work-up. Two patients had positive troponin values in the ED, 2 had cardiology consultations, and 3 had further cardiac stress testing, all of which were negative or nondiagnostic. No cardiac catheterizations were performed.
Conclusions: Most ED patients with recent cocaine use but without chest pain have a normal ECG. Of the minority with an abnormal ECG, no cases of acute myocardial ischemia or infarction were identified.
Keywords: ECG; EKG; chest pain; cocaine; electrocardiogram; emergency department; medical clearance; medical screening; psychiatric; urine drug screen.
Copyright © 2019. Published by Elsevier Inc.