BMH ahead of National

Cardiac Response Goals

Seconds can save lives, and achieving lower response times is essential patient care. The Ball Memorial Hospital Emergency Department either met or exceeded its cardiac response goals throughout 2006.

The Cardiac Service Line recently recognized the department for its consistently low Door to ECG times. This represents the time from when a patient arrives in the ED until an electrocardiogram, the first diagnostic check monitoring the heart, can be administered. ECGs monitor the heart for acute myocardial infarction, commonly known as a heart attack.

The emergency department’s goal for door-to-ECG time is 10 minutes. In the current fiscal year, the department is averaging 5.6 minutes, and was at 2.3 minutes throughout October.

The ED has achieved the 10-minute mark every month since November 2005 but one.

The low times are a result of greater communication, education, and training, and creation of a “feedback loop,” getting data back to staff in a timely fashion, according to ED administrative director Karla Kirby.

“We will also be starting a performance improvement team in March to further refine our process and make even more improvements to reduce time and increase communication,” she said.

Another area of achievement is “Door-to-balloon time.” It refers to when the patient enters the ED, the heart attack is diagnosed, and the vessel is re-opened with a pressurized balloon catheter. The national goal for this turnaround is 90 minutes or less. BMH is currently at 75 minutes.

BMH is also a participant in D2B: An Alliance for Quality, an American College of Cardiology program developed to make extraordinary performance processes by hospitals more routine. D2B shares evidence-based strategies and supporting tools with other hospitals to help reduce their door-to-balloon times.

“We have looked closely at our processes for a number of years, and we prioritize any patient with cardiac symptoms such as chest pain to get them an ECG as quickly as possible,” said Kirby.

“The ECG isn’t the only thing we use, but it is the first diagnostic test that sets the others in motion.”

“What this represents is a hard-wired collaboration between EMS/Paramedic Services, the ED staff and its physicians, and the cardiologists and Cath Lab staff, and a relentless commitment to providing the very best care and quality outcomes for our patients,” said Marianne Kritzer, Senior Administrative Director, Cardiac Service Line.

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