Regional coordination of patients with ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction can improve the speed of treatment and survival rates, according to a study in Circulation.
One hundred nineteen North Carolina hospitals created a coordinated system to treat STEMI patients quickly according to presentation — walk-in, ambulance or hospital transfer. The researchers studied 6,841 STEMI patients who were treated between July 2008 and December 2009.
They found the rate of patients not receiving reperfusion fell from 5.4 percent to 4 percent after implementing the coordinated system. For hospitals that adopted a "transfer for percutaneous coronary intervention" reperfusion strategy, the time from first hospital door to device fell from 117 minutes to 103 minutes. In addition, patients who were treated within national guideline goals had a mortality of 2.2 percent compared with 5.7 percent for patients whose treatments were outside of guideline recommendations.
Study: Hospital at Home Program Generated 19% Savings
10 Barriers to Improving Quality
One hundred nineteen North Carolina hospitals created a coordinated system to treat STEMI patients quickly according to presentation — walk-in, ambulance or hospital transfer. The researchers studied 6,841 STEMI patients who were treated between July 2008 and December 2009.
They found the rate of patients not receiving reperfusion fell from 5.4 percent to 4 percent after implementing the coordinated system. For hospitals that adopted a "transfer for percutaneous coronary intervention" reperfusion strategy, the time from first hospital door to device fell from 117 minutes to 103 minutes. In addition, patients who were treated within national guideline goals had a mortality of 2.2 percent compared with 5.7 percent for patients whose treatments were outside of guideline recommendations.
More Articles on Hospital Quality:
6 Care Coordination Approaches to Reduce HospitalizationsStudy: Hospital at Home Program Generated 19% Savings
10 Barriers to Improving Quality