Heart attack patients' survival rates can vary greatly depending on the hospital where they're treated and how many clinical meetings those hospitals hold per month, according to a new study from Yale University.
The study found reviewing heart attack cases during monthly meetings with emergency medical providers and maintaining a positive work environment to be two strategies to reduce mortality rates.
Other hospital factors associated with lower heart attack mortality rates include the constant presence of a cardiologist on site or a pharmacist on the daily care team on site; encouragement and creative problem-solving by clinicians; and physicians and nurses working in teams rather than nurses working alone.
Less than 10 percent of hospitals participating in the study used these strategies.
"These strategies we discovered to successfully treat patients with heart attacks were not expensive methods, and therefore, many of these tools and processes can be easily put into place by other hospitals to drastically improve the quality of care provided to these patients," senior author Harlan M. Krumholz, MD, said in the release.
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The study found reviewing heart attack cases during monthly meetings with emergency medical providers and maintaining a positive work environment to be two strategies to reduce mortality rates.
Other hospital factors associated with lower heart attack mortality rates include the constant presence of a cardiologist on site or a pharmacist on the daily care team on site; encouragement and creative problem-solving by clinicians; and physicians and nurses working in teams rather than nurses working alone.
Less than 10 percent of hospitals participating in the study used these strategies.
"These strategies we discovered to successfully treat patients with heart attacks were not expensive methods, and therefore, many of these tools and processes can be easily put into place by other hospitals to drastically improve the quality of care provided to these patients," senior author Harlan M. Krumholz, MD, said in the release.
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