NEW HAVEN, Conn., Dec. 3 (UPI) -- A U.S. study shows dramatic improvement in heart attack victims by employing new time-saving strategies in coordinating their emergency care.
Healthcare professionals said they found obtaining improvement in "door-to-balloon" times -- the time from when a heart attack patient enters the hospital to the time blood flow is restored to the heart by opening a blockage with angioplasty -- the more likely their patients were to survive.
The D2B Alliance, a national campaign sponsored by the American College of Cardiology and 38 partner organizations, have set a goal of 75 percent of patients receiving life-saving heart attack care within 90 minutes of hospital arrival.
But Yale University researchers said fewer than half of the hospitals surveyed in 2005 met clinical guidelines in door-to-balloon times. Today, however, more than 80 percent are meeting the guidelines.
The Yale team surveyed D2B times in 831 U.S. hospitals from April 1, 2005, to March 31, 2008. The survey showed marked reductions in unnecessary delays in treatment and widespread adoption of recommended strategies to improve care.
"The key is to have a leader and a team devoted to a single goal and to be persistent, even in the face of setbacks," said Professor Elizabeth Bradley, first author of the study. "This campaign has changed the way heart attack care is delivered -- for the benefit of patients."
The study is reported in the Dec. 15 issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.
