Better coordination needed for heart-attack patients

Only an estimated 25 percent of U.S. hospitals can perform angioplasty on patients who have a heart attack. Dr. Timothy Henry of Minneapolis Heart Institute Foundation says building more hospitals won’t save more people, but getting hospitals to better work together will.

Henry says better coordination between hospitals and medical centers will lead to heart-attack patients being sent more quickly to the appropriate facility.

Henry was the lead author of a study that was published in the September 2011 edition of Circulation. The study found that at least one-third of patients who had a severe heart attack were delayed in getting the angioplasty that they needed. It also found that 31 percent of patients who went into cardiac arrest and were delayed died before they were transferred.

Both finances and geography pose problems for hospitals.

“If you look at a state like Wyoming, you’re looking at traveling a great distance to a place that can do the surgery,” he says, “whereas in an area like Chicago, you almost have too many sites, so there can be confusion as to where to go.”

American Heart Association wants the hospitals and medical centers that are equipped for doctors to perform an angioplasty to coordinate with those that don’t, so the transfer doesn’t take longer than is necessary. Henry says hospitals will need more money to train personnel and update records, which could take years to complete.

In the meantime, you should find out what surgeries that nearby hospitals can perform and note this for family or emergency personnel if you go into cardiac arrest.