Achieving Door-to-Balloon Times That Meet Quality Guidelines

Achieving rapid door-to-balloon times: how top hospitals improve complex clinical systems.

BACKGROUND Fewer than half of patients with ST-elevation acute myocardial infarction (STEMI) are treated within guideline-recommended door-to-balloon times; however, little information is available about the approaches used by hospitals that have been successful in improving door-to-balloon times to meet guidelines. We sought to characterize experiences of hospitals with outstanding improvement...

Trends in race-based differences in door-to-balloon times.

I n 2004, our group reported that black patients with ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) were more likely to experience delays in reperfusion than white patients, primarily owing to poorer performance of hospitals with a disproportionate representation of black patients. Since that initial observation, several high-profile initiatives have sought to improve national performance ...

Achieving sustainable first door-to-balloon times of 90 minutes for regional transfer ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction.

OBJECTIVES A network approach to transfer ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) patients can achieve durable first door-to-balloon times (1st D2B) for percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) within 90 min. BACKGROUND Nationally, a minority of STEMI patients from referral centers obtain 1st D2B in <2 h and even fewer in <90 min. METHODS Included were transfer STEMI patients fro...

Using EMS Dispatch to Trigger STEMI Alerts Decreases Door-to-Balloon Times

INTRODUCTION We sought to determine the potential reduction in door-to-balloon time (DTB) by allowing paramedics to perform prehospital ST-Elevation Myocardial Infarction (STEMI) notification using brief communications via emergency medical services (EMS) 9-1-1 dispatchers as soon as they saw a STEMI on 12-lead electrocardiogram (EKG). Our hypothesis was that earlier cardiac catheterization lab...

Tyranny of Door-to-Balloon Time.