By Steven Reinberg HealthDay Reporter MONDAY, April 30 (HealthDay News) — The odds you'llsurvive a heart attack vary widely depending on where you'retreated in the United States, according to a new study by YaleUniversity researchers. Hospitals that follow five simple strategies — including goodteamwork and having cardiologists on hand 24/7 — have twicethe 30-day survival rates of other medical centers, the studyfound. But fewer than 10 percent of the 500-plus U.S. hospitals studiedfollow even four of the five practices, the study authors said. "If we could implement all of the strategies across thenation, we would save thousands of lives annually," said leadresearcher Elizabeth Bradley, a professor of public health at theYale School of Public Health in New Haven, Conn.
"Relativelysimple strategies and a culture that focuses not on hiding problemsbut on finding and solving problems is the best medicine we cangive ourselves." The strategies include monthly meetings with doctors and paramedicsto review heart attack cases; having cardiologists alwaysavailable; encouraging creative problem solving; specializingnursing duties and better teamwork between doctors and nurses. Encouraging creative problem-solving and better doctor-nurseteamwork appeared to have the most effect, reducing deaths by 0.84percent and 0.88 percent respectively. Monthly reviews with doctorsand emergency transport personnel lowered deaths by 0.70 percent;keeping heart specialists on site brought deaths down 0.54 percentand using only specialized nurses cut deaths by 0.44 percent. "These strategies are a mix of concrete processes and theoverall culture of the hospital," Bradley said.
They are also"relatively inexpensive and do not require a lot of capitalinvestment, but rather reflect how people work with eachother." For the study, published in the May 1 issue of the Annals of Internal Medicine , Bradley's team looked at deaths after heart attacks in 537hospitals from January 2008 to December 2009. Fewer than one-quarter of the hospitals held monthly meetings withthe paramedics who transported heart attack patients, and only 14percent had a cardiologist on duty at all times, the study found.Having a pharmacist accompany doctors on medical rounds alsoimproved odds of survival, but just 35 percent of the hospitalsstudied did so. Still, while these management strategies were associated withimproved survival rates, the authors cautioned that the studycannot establish cause and effect. Speaking on behalf of the American Heart Association, Dr.
GreggFonarow, a professor of cardiology at the University of California,Los Angeles, said that "owing to advances in care andperformance improvement programs, there have been significantimprovements in survival in patients presenting with an acute heartattack." Nevertheless, there appear to be substantial opportunities tofurther improve outcomes of these patients, he said. In this study, certain strategies were found to have statisticallysignificant but small associations with differences in 30-daymortality. "Additional efforts are needed to implement evidence-based,guideline-recommended therapies in all eligible acute heart attackpatients and further promote effective strategies, performanceimprovement programs and systems of care," Fonarow said. The American Heart Association and the American College ofCardiology offer highly effective guidelines for hospitals thatwant to improve care of heart attack patients, he said. More information For more information on heart attacks, visit the U.S.
Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute . SOURCES: Elizabeth H. Bradley, Ph.D, professor of public health,Yale School of Public Health, New Haven, Conn.; Gregg Fonarow,M.D., professor of cardiology, University of California, LosAngeles, and spokesman, American Heart Association; May 1, 2012, Annals of Internal Medicine Last Updated: April 30, 2012 Copyright 2012 HealthDay . All rights reserved. I am an expert from Consumer Electronics, usually analyzes all kind of industries situation, such as power acoustic amplifiers , mustek digital frame.
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