New: Acute Coronary Syndromes Guidelines Addendum Near Completion
A review of the evidence related to acute coronary syndromes (ACS) management is currently underway.

An addendum to the 2006 ACS management guidelines will be available here in the first half of 2010.

New: Implementation of Acute Coronary Syndromes Guidelines in Australia - Update 2009
The Heart Foundation and its collaborative stakeholder organisations continue to work to improve the adoption of ACS guideline recommendations in Australia and improve ACS health outcomes.

For an update on what we have been doing to engage and work with
government and key health services stakeholders in acute and primary care settings, see "Implementation of acute coronary sydromes guidelines in Australia - update 2009" under 'Resources' below.

National Acute Coronary Syndromes Implementation Forum 
The National Acute Coronary Syndromes Implementation Forum was held on Friday 17 October 2007. It aimed to gain consensus from experts and key opinion leaders on priority intervention points to improve the management of acute coronary syndromes in Australia. The summary report from the forum is now available. See 'Resources' below to download your free copy.

ACS Guidelines
Guidelines for the management of acute coronary syndromes (ACS) have been developed by the Heart Foundation and the Cardiac Society of Australia and New Zealand, and were published as a supplement to the Medical Journal of Australia on 17 April 2006.

In addition, a 2007 Addendum to the 2006 Acute Coronary Syndromes (ACS) guidelines (Heart Foundation and CSANZ) was published in the Medical Journal of Australia on 3 March 2008. The Addendum provides information from recently published trials to be considered in the choice of therapies for the management of ACS. See 'Resources' below for the link to this Addendum.

A summary of the key messages and recommendations, a treatment algorithm, and a slide presentation (PDF) are also available (see 'Resources'). We encourage health professionals to use the slides at any education opportunity to discuss the acute management of patients with ACS including systems of care, diagnostic investigations, choosing the most appropriate reperfusion option, and discharge and follow-up management.

Interested health professionals are invited to register with us to receive notification of updates to these guidelines and related activities. In addition, we may contact you to invite your participation in implementation and evaluation activities. You are also invited to provide feedback on the slide presentation and how it was used in your health setting. To register for updates or provide feedback, please email us.

Resources

Guidelines

Other resources

Implementation of acute coronary sydromes guidelines in Australia - update 2009 (2009)  Download

Summary report from the National Acute Coronary Syndromes Implementation Forum (2008)  Download

 Download

Slide presentation (in pdf format) - ACS guidelines key recommendations (2007)
 Download