Research for Patient Benefit award to look at variation in outcomes for patients admitted for acute coronary syndrome

12 August 2010

Helen Cramer and Maggie Evans have been awarded a Research for Patient Benefit grant to undertake a qualitative study examining variation in outcomes for patients admitted for acute coronary syndrome.

The study will contribute to an understanding of the reasons for the wide range of inter-hospital variation in 30-day mortality (5-18%) identified from the Myocardial Ischaemia Audit Project (MINAP) extracted data. Hospital-level factors have been identified that affect the standard of care and outcomes for patients admitted with ACS, including patient volume, hospital type and the make-up of inter-professional teams. The study will use an ethnographic approach to provide an account of organisational factors such as these that are responsible for inter-hospital variation in outcome for patients.

The co-applicants on the bid are Gene Feder, Harry Hemingway (UCL), Adam Timmis (Barts and the London), Katie Featherstone (Cardiff), Christi Deaton (Manchester). Collaborators on the project will be Julie George (UCL), Ailsa Cameron (Bristol) and Sandra Eldridge (Barts and the London).