TY - JOUR T1 - General practitioners' use of a mobile coronary care unit in a non-urban setting JF - The Journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners JO - J R Coll Gen Pract SP - 261 LP - 263 VL - 34 IS - 262 AU - C. M. Duffy AU - K. Addley Y1 - 1984/05/01 UR - http://bjgp.org/content/34/262/261.abstract N2 - The use that general practitioners made of the mobile coronary care unit operating from a district general hospital was monitored. Over half of the patients referred by their general practitioners to hospital with suspected acute myocardial infarction were removed by the mobile unit rather than by an ordinary ambulance. However, general practitioner selection of the more compromised patient for admission via the mobile unit indicated that the chance of this category of patient being admitted by the proven best means could be improved. Of the definite cases of infarcts removed to hospital by whatever means, the high proportion which were uncomplicated raises the question whether the general practitioner is attempting to select such patients for home rather than hospital care. The figures for the use of the mobile coronary care unit also indicate that education of the public remains an important task. ER -