Acute Coronary Syndromes (ACS) clinical guidelines

Who can use these guidelines? 

What's in the guidelines? 

• New recommendations and key practice points incorporating new evidence that has been graded on the certainty of evidence and the likely absolute benefit versus harm. 
• A focus on key components of the management associated with improved clinical outcomes for patients with chest pain or ACS.  
• Advice on the standardised assessment and management of patients with suspected ACS, including the implementation of clinical assessment pathways and subsequent functional and anatomical testing.  
• Guidance on the diagnosis and risk stratification of ACS, provision of acute reperfusion therapy and immediate post-fibrinolysis care for patients with ST segment elevation myocardial infarction 
• Risk stratification informing the use of routine versus selective invasive management for patients with non-ST segment elevation ACS 
• Administration of antithrombotic therapies in the acute setting and consideration affecting their long term use 
• Guidance on the implementation of an individualised secondary prevention plan that includes both pharmacotherapies and cardiac rehabilitation  
• The guidelines provide new assessment protocols and algorithms, including three for suspected ACS using point-of-care assay, sensitive lab-based assay and highly sensitive lab-based assay, along with treatment algorithm for ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI), as well as decision-making and timing considerations in reperfusion for STEMI. 

Who has endorsed the guidelines? 

• The Australasian College for Emergency Medicine (ACEM) 
• The Australian Cardiovascular Health and Rehabilitation Association (ACRA) 
• The Royal College of Pathologists of Australasia (RCPA) 
• The Internal Medicine Society of Australia and New Zealand (IMSANZ) 
• The Australasian Cardiovascular Nursing College (ACNC) 
• The Council of Remote Area Nurses of Australia (CRANA) 
• The Australian and New Zealand Society of Cardiac and Thoracic Surgeons (ANZSCTS) 
• The Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care (ACSQHC).  

How were the guidelines developed?