A National Leader in Fast Response to Heart Attacks
Genesis record is more than 5 times faster than national standard of care
DAVENPORT, Iowa - This week while the national media was reporting the need for faster care to people in the midst of a major heart attack, Genesis Medical Center, Davenport was celebrating a heart attack response time that’s more than five times faster than the national standard of care.
On Nov. 7, it only took a record-breaking 17 minutes from the time a patient arrived in the Genesis Emergency Department to when a cardiologist in the hospital’s Cardiac Catheterization Lab opened the blocked artery. That shaved 5 minutes off the hospital’s previous record of 22 minutes, set a year ago on Nov. 25, 2005, and is considerably faster than the 90 minute national standard of care set by the American College of Cardiology.
Genesis’ 17-minute record was made possible by a successful alert process that mobilizes hospital staff to respond to patients having a heart attack. The alert, launched in June 2004, has led to heart attack response times that rank among the best in the nation.
The clock starts ticking from the time the heart attack patient enters the Emergency Room doors, and most times, emergency medical technicians in the field have given advance warning to the hospital and performed the EKG. It ends once the blocked artery is opened, what is called "door-to-dilation" time.
"It’s so important because time is muscle when you’re talking about the heart," said Cindy McGee, R.N., Nurse Manager of the Genesis Cardiac Catheterization Lab. "The sooner you have that artery opened, the less heart damage will occur. And that is our goal."
Here’s a look at how Genesis stacks up:
- Genesis ranks in the 91st percentile nationally for heart attack response times, according to American College of Cardiology (ACC). Median door-to-dilation time at Genesis is 56 minutes compared to national standard of care of 90 minutes.
- Nationally, only 33 percent of patients have blockages cleared within the 90 minute standard. At Genesis, 80 percent of patients have blockages cleared in less than 90 minutes.
- Genesis is in the 97th percentile for short stays for patients who have percutaneous coronary interventions for the treatment of narrowed arteries, according to the ACC. "Genesis and our partners at Cardiovascular Medicine, P.C., are sending patients home in less time than most hospitals in the country," said Ken Croken, Vice President of Corporate Communications and Marketing.
McGee added, "That is due to the fact that patients don’t have the heart damage that they once would have had because we’re getting these arteries opened so much quicker. There’s less heart damage or no heart damage, so they can go home quicker."
- Only 8 of every 100 patients who come to Genesis with a high-grade coronary problem will require open-heart surgery, compared to approximately 20 to 30 percent for hospitals nationally.
- Genesis has a 99.5 percent success rate for stent implants, according to the ACC.
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