Lay summary
Chest pain is one of the most common reasons for presenting to an Emergency Department (ED). The majority of this chest pain is non-cardiac in origin. Current methods of dealing with this non-cardiac chest pain (NCCP) using reassurance are not very effective. We propose to evaluate a brief (3-4 session) psychosocial intervention using modified cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) techniques to reduce the distress associated with NCCP. This will include teaching coping skills, stress management and cardiac risk factor reduction. This NCCP directed CBT may help reduce the inappropriate use of health services resulting in significant cost savings for New Zealand. The training and supervision requirements are modest and ED and cardiac nurses can be trained to use these techniques to enhance patient outcomes throughout New Zealand.