NICK CASTLE discusses the vital area of effective pain relief during the management of patients experiencing ischaemic chest pain

Emergency nurses are pivotal to the management of patients with an acute coronary syndrome and the national service framework (NSF) for coronary heart disease has further highlighted this by emphasising the importance of A&E driven thrombolysis. A vital area of patient management is the effective relief of ischaemic cardiac pain. Despite this, pain relief can be difficult to achieve and involves more than one agent.