Hospital and emergency medical services system interaction during the implementation of chest pain emergency rooms.

Knowledgeable personnel at 23 hospitals with chest pain emergency rooms (CPERs) served by nonhospital-based emergency health services (EMS) systems were surveyed. Although few hospitals had involved EMS in the planning stages of the CPER, there were no reports of a poor relationship with the local EMS system, and surveyed personnel perceived neither deterioration nor improvement in their hospital's relationship with EMS after opening the CPER. Hospitals where EMS was considered important to the functioning of the CPER were significantly more likely to have involved EMS in the CPER planning process.