It’s based on a study in the Journal of the American Heart Associati0n.
The WSJ (which has superb coverage of the clinical as well as the fiscal side of healthcare) notes that “scant attention has gone to patients already in the hospital for an unrelated medical problem who then have an attack. Recent studies suggest those patients are at least three times as likely to die before getting discharged as people who arrive at the emergency room after having a heart attack elsewhere.”
(From CMG’s own experience, we suggest having a heart attack at home but close — within, say 10 minutes’ drive — to a good ER.)
“The key is in recognizing what signs and symptoms call for an ECG, said Brian Jaski, an interventional cardiologist at Sharp Memorial Hospital in San Diego, one of three Sharp HealthCare hospitals participating in the project. ‘If that electrocardiogram is never done, you’re already behind the 8-ball.”’
