Observational studies have suggested that early discharge (24hrs with follow up virtually by telephone) of patients who are low risk and have had successful treatment following ST elevation myocardial infarction is safe. This has not been tested in a randomised controlled trial. In this trial the study team propose to identify low risk patients and randomise them to usual care or early discharge and follow up virtually by telephone. The primary endpoint would be readmission to hospital or all cause death up to 30 day following the event. If the outcome is positive, the study will assist early discharge of patients, reduce length of stay, potentially improve patient well being and have positive financial implications for the health service
Successful revascularisation following STEMI
Zwolle score <=3
No bystander disease awaiting inpatient intervention at the time of screening or consent (so if they have had intervention to a bystander vessel before this they would be eligible)
Haemodynamic instability (Killip class >I)
Left ventricular ejection fraction <45%<40%
Sustained ventricular or atrial arrhythmias requiring intervention
No support at home or social or physical circumstances preventing early discharge
Parallel
virtual ward early discharge
Other interventionPatients who are randomised to the study group will receive a blood pressure monitor and instructions on how to use the device and transfer data to the study team. The study nurses will contact the patient every day for 3 days following their discharge and perform an virtual ward round assessment by telephone (see table). This will determine whether the patient continues to be monitored via the virtual ward, or whether they need to be referred to the clinical team. They will be issued with an emergency contact number out of hours (coronary care unit LGI) and the nursing hub will operate from 8am to 5pm 7 days a week. They will be referred to the community cardiac rehabilitation service whilst on the pathway.
30-day all-cause mortality or any rehospitalisation
(time starts at admission of patient). No randomised controlled trials (RCTs) have compared 24-48 hours discharge to \>48 hours discharge in low-risk STEMI patients. To the knowledge there has been a prior meta-analysis included 5 RCTs comparing discharge at 48 to 72 hours versus \>72 hours and this was found to be safe(4). The 30-day event rate of any hospitalisation or all-cause death that was available from 3 RCTs was 31/489 (6.3%) in the routine care arm and 21/515 (4.1%) in the early discharge arm. For a non-inferiority design, assuming an event rate of 6% in the routine care arm and 4% in the very early discharge arm and a non-inferiority margin of 2.5%, 290 patients would be needed in each arm to provide 80% power, at 5% significance level. To allow for approximate 3-4% drop-out rate, it is intended to recruit 600 patients in total
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