Evaluating Pre-Hospital Systems of Care for Patients with Acute Coronary Syndromes (ACS) in India

Though ischemic heart disease is the leading cause of death in India, little is known about pre-hospital care of acute coronary syndromes (ACS). I propose a mixed methods project to evaluate facilitators and barriers to optimal pre-hospital systems of care through the use of focus group discussions (FGDs) and in-depth interviews, to analyze baseline patient-level and emergency care-level characteristics as a sub-study of Acute Coronary Syndrome Quality Improvement in Kerala (ACS QUIK, PI: Huffman), and to conduct a systematic review of policy documents addressing pre-hospital ACS care at local, state, and national levels. I believe this work will identify areas for future interventions and result in the bidirectional transfer of novel interventions for ACS care between India and the US for mutual benefit.