Estimated read time: Less than a minute
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
Randall Jeppesen, KSL Newsradio A Utah County hospital is using a new technology that allows doctors to diagnose a heart attack before the patient even arrives at the emergency room.
Paramedics now can send EKGs from a patient's location directly to Timpanogos Regional Hospital.
There, Dr. Eugene Zanolli says they prepare for the patient to roll through the doors and into the lab to receive life-saving angioplasty. "[A] Potential of 10 to 20 minutes time saved," Zanolli said.
Orem paramedic Capt. Ryan Peterson says the system works through a cell phone. So, what their monitors see in the field, the hospital sees as well. "The paramedics simply push one button and it will complete the transmission to the hospital," Peterson explained.
Two hospitals in the state are using this new technology right now, but others are likely to follow.
