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Local paramedics have been hooking up heart-attack victims with EKG leads for more than 12 years. But the way that information is dispatched back to hospital ERs has now taken a new direction that could speed up how soon patients get a lifesaving balloon inflated in their arteries.
"There are national guidelines established, that they have a goal of 90 minutes or less from the time the patient walks through the door until the balloon is inflated," explained Doug Passey, director of cardiology at Ogden Region Medical Center.
How about on the "less"-side -- as little as 15 or 20 minutes!
"The old saying is ‘time is muscle.' The longer you delay any treatment, the more damage you may have to the cardiac tissue," said Brian Maynard, a registered nurse (RN) with the EMS Liason Team at McKay-Dee Hospital.
This device, called Gateway, now sends out all the EKG information on the patient on location to multiple places at one time.
Within minutes, the data from the patient is being transmitted in the ER. What makes this technology so much better, there's no loss of information on that patient even if there's a break in transmission.
"The technology is allowing them [paramedics] to spend more time focused on patient care and less time in making sure the system is working," said Chad Tucker, deputy chief of the Ogden Fire Department.
There's also a huge benefit for doctors and nurses in the ER. "With this new technology, the cardiologist can theoretically see that EKG coming through the same time I do and can actually be walking toward the department," explained Dr. Joan Balcombe, medical director of the Weber County Paramedic Program.
The upgraded system dispatches heart data so efficiently, patients can bypass time wasted in the ER and go directly to the cath lab where a cardiology team is waiting to deliver immediate treatment.
"If a patient arrives at a hospital alive, with a heart attack, we can save their life virtually every time," said Dr. Michael Diehl, cardiology medical director at Ogden Regional Hospital.
Gateway has already proven its worth in the short two months it's been in use.
From the doorway at Ogden Regional Medical Center, a patient bypassing the ER could go directly to the cath lab in only five or six minutes.
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