Practical Approaches to Care in Emergency Syncope

Syncope, or transient loss of consciousness, is a common reason for visit to the Emergency Department and often leads to extensive testing and hospitalization. Using objective risk scores to determine which patients with syncope will actually benefit from these interventions, and which can be safely discharged home with minimal testing, is critical to providing sensible medical care. This study will evaluate the validity of two syncope risk-stratification tools and investigate their impact on healthcare utilization and patient safety, thus improving the quality of care for the 1-2 million patients who experience syncope every year in the United States