[dmkirwan]

In many parts of Europe, a heart attack used to go like this:

1: 112 call to an ambulance

2: Ambulance arrives, takes an ECG and gives aspirin and GTN

3: Paramedics drive to the emergency department

4: ER doctor identifies the patient is having a heart attack, and pages cardio

5: Cardio decide the patient needs a stent and they bring them to an OR to have it fitted.

In each of these steps, the patient could go into cardiac arrest and likely will not survive.

Today it looks more like this:

1: 112 call happens, the call taker follows a protocol that asks the caller to administer aspirin if appropriate while the ambulance is on the way

2: Ambulance arrives, takes an ECG, identifies a heart attack and transmits the ECG to a cardiologist, all while treating the patient

3: Cardiologist thinks the patient would benefit from a stent, so the paramedic begins transporting the patient and administers whatever pre-operation drugs the cardiologist wants (this would normally happen at step 5 in the previous example)

4: Patient is brought direct to the OR (or PPCI as they're specifically called here) where the cardiac team are waiting around the table for the patient

It's so efficient. I'm not up to date with the latest research on this but just the time savings alone must have saved so many lives. Treatment starts far sooner and all unnecessary steps are removed.