Transporting STEMI Patients Directly to the Catheter Lab Improves Time to PCI

Bypassing community hospitals and the emergency department significantly increased the proportion of patients who received PCI within the 90-minute benchmark.

Researchers in an Ontario, Canada, emergency medical services (EMS) system performed a 24-month before-and-after analysis of EMS-contact-to-balloon (E2B) times in patients with suspected ST-segment-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) who were transported to local emergency departments (before phase; 95 patients) or directly from the field to the catheterization laboratory of a regional percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) center (after phase; 80 patients).

In both phases, advanced notice was provided to receiving facilities, and electrocardiograms (ECGs) were not transmitted. In the after phase, the ED-bypass protocol required an estimated transport time to a PCI center of ≤60 minutes. PCI staff were required to report within 30 minu…

Reviewing Author

Kristi L. Koenig, MD, FACEP

Disclosures

Editorial boardsKoenig & Schultz's Disaster Medicine: Comprehensive Principles and Practices

Kristi L. Koenig, MD, FACEP

Disclosures

Editorial boardsKoenig & Schultz's Disaster Medicine: Comprehensive Principles and Practices