The University of Kansas Hospital Exceeding National Goals for Immediate Care of Heart Attack Patients

In the wake of the American Heart Association (AHA) launching its new program to reduce the toll of the deadliest kind of heart attacks, The University of Kansas Hospital has announced that its heart attack patient response time has already been averaging more than 32 percent faster than the standard guidelines. The hospital’s success comes from decreasing the response time needed to get the patient either drug therapy to clear away a clot blocking the artery, or angioplasty, the insertion of a balloon to push the artery open and improve blood flow.

Response times are measured from the moment patients with a common type of heart attack called ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) enter the hospital until they actually undergo angioplasty surgery. In the fourth quarter of calendar year 2006, UKH averaged 68 minutes for “door-to-balloon” time – the period between a patient coming through the emergency room door to the angioplasty surgery. The national standard recommended by the AHA is 90 minutes and Medicare funding standards are 120 minutes. Patients transferred to The University of Kansas Hospital from other hospitals averaged 107 minutes of door-to-balloon time in the fourth quarter of 2006 versus the national average of three hours for patients transferred for primary PCI.

“When a patient is having a heart attack, the longer they go without angioplasty, the greater the potential for heart muscle to die and result in more severe long-term consequences,” said Beth Clark, director of cardiovascular services, The University of Kansas Hospital. “Getting patients the care they need quickly is a top priority.”

The University of Kansas Hospital instituted a door-to-balloon time program in October 2005. This program includes a hotline – one phone number that emergency department personnel use to activate cardiologists, cardiology nurses and cath lab teams when a heart attack patient enters the emergency department showing signs of a STEMI heart attack. Preparation times for cardiology teams are dramatically reduced, resulting in getting patients into critical surgical procedures faster. The hospital’s goal is a door-to-balloon time of 75 minutes. Since the program inception, there have been 475 total hotline activations.

“The system we’ve instituted streamlines multiple departments within the hospital to provide the most urgent, thorough patient care possible,” said Clark. “We are continually working to improve our average times because minutes really matter in these medical situations.”

While the “door-to-balloon” time has averaged 68 minutes in the fourth quarter of 2006, Clark has seen some of the best response times in the 40-minute range at the hospital. The hospital is also working with four other hospitals in the Kansas City region on this program to speed necessary care to heart attack patients.