Coordinated system helps heart attack patients get treatment faster
Tuesday, June 28, 2011 - 17:30
in Health & Medicine
A new report finds a U.S. statewide coordinated care system reduced transfer times between hospitals for heart attack patients needing emergency angioplasty to open blocked heart arteries. The researchers compared how long it took to transfer patients from smaller facilities without emergency angioplasty capabilities to hospitals with them, before and after a statewide patient transfer program was instituted. EMS crews had a particularly strong impact on improving coordination of patient care.