Emergency Departments and STEMI Care, Are the Guidelines Being Followed?

TL;DRAbstract

The purpose of this study examined if an Emergency Department (ED) in a small rural hospital in western North Carolina is compliant with the American College of Cardiology (ACC) and the American Heart Association (AHA) guidelines for obtaining Electrocardiogram's (ECG's), administering fibrinolytics, and performing Primary Percutaneous Coronary Intervention (PCI) on patients with chest pain diagnosed with ST-Elevation Myocardial Infarction (STEMI). The national standards for ECGs is less than 10 minutes from arrival to first medical contact (FMC) with triage nurse; for fibrinolytics, less than 30 minutes from arrival to FMC; and for FMC to PCI, less than 90 minutes. The national standard for ECG times is for all patients presenting to the ED with symptom of chest pain. The national standards for FMC to PCI and fibrinolytics are for STEMI patients only. Using a retrospective design, twenty-five patient records were examined from January 2010 to December 2011. The one-sample t test was u

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