Coronary artery disease remains the major cause of
premature death in the developed world. Acute
coronary syndromes (ACS) are manifestations of
this condition and comprise unstable angina, non-STsegment
myocardial infarction (NSTEMI) and ST-segment
myocardial infarction (STEMI). Treatment strategies
differ and STEMI often has a dramatic presentation.
Optimum treatment for STEMI is time-critical emergency
angioplasty and stent to reopen a blocked heart artery.
The HEAT-PPCI (How Effective are Antithrombotic
Therapies in Primary Percutaneous Coronary Intervention)
trial compared the performance of two drugs in this
specific STEMI setting (Shahzad et al, 2014). Both drugs
under investigation were, and remain, routinely used as
anticlotting agents.
HEAT-PPCI is thought to be the largest ever singlecentre
trial in cardiovascular medicine. There were some
novel aspects to the trial design, and both the results and
methodology of the trial have provoked continuing debate
and discussion (Berger and Blankenship, 2014; Shaw,
2014). Delivery of this ambitious undertaking required
the sustained and co-ordinated efforts of research, medical,
nursing and non-clinical teams. The key findings of the
trial will be provided in brief. This paper will then aim to
describe how the trial was achieved, discussing these
aspects from a nursing perspective. It will describe how
nurses from multiple clinical areas engaged to help deliver
the common goal of the trial