Heart and Vascular Center
Emergency Care
The first point of care for a person who has had a heart attack (myocardial infarction) is the Emergency Department, where quick and decisive diagnosis is crucial. Physicians and staff in the Emergency Department are specially trained in emergency treatment for heart attack.
A heart attack occurs when the blood supply to a part of the heart is interrupted. The immediate goal is to open blocked arteries quickly to restore blood flow to the heart and minimize damage to the heart muscle. The most effective treatment for reducing damage to the heart muscle is balloon angioplasty, which involves inserting a balloon catheter into the artery near the blockage and inflating the balloon to open the artery and restore blood flow to the heart. The Cardiac Catheterization Laboratory at Froedtert & the Medical College of Wisconsin is staffed and ready 24 hours a day to perform procedures to open blocked coronary arteries.
The Heart and Vascular Center also provides emergency surgical backup for angioplasty procedures, with a cardiac surgery team available around the clock.
Door-to-balloon time
Time is of the essence in detecting and treating a heart attack. One critical measure of care is “door-to-balloon time,” which indicates how quickly a medical team is able to restore blood flow in patients who have a heart attack. Door-to-balloon time is counted from the time a patient comes in the door to the point where he or she undergoes balloon angioplasty to open a blocked artery.
Froedtert & the Medical College of Wisconsin are a national leader in door-to-balloon time. In fact, during the last quarter of 2006, the American College of Cardiology ranked Froedtert & the Medical College No. 1 in the country (among 602 healthcare facilities) in door-to-balloon time. While the standard door-to-balloon time among healthcare organizations is 90 minutes, Froedtert & the Medical College have set the bar at 60 minutes. The average door-to-balloon time for the fourth quarter of 2006 was 62 minutes, with 86 percent under 90 minutes.
A team ensures that all systems are in place to care for patients with a minimum door-to-balloon time. To speed diagnosis, paramedics send EKG results from the field to an emergency room physician who activates the catheterization lab where balloon angioplasty and stent placement are performed to open blocked arteries. They do this with a one-call paging system that alerts the cardiac intervention team to be ready when patients come in or are referred from hospitals that aren’t fully equipped to care for heart attack patients.
In a continuous effort to improve door-to-balloon times, each patient case is reviewed in a minute-by-minute process. This continuous quality review process led to the No. 1 ranking by the ACC in the last quarter of 2006.
Cardiac Intensive Care Unit
In the Cardiac Intensive Care Unit (CICU), cardiovascular, critical care and internal medicine subspecialists provide medical care to heart attack patients and other cardiac patients requiring intense, specialized care. All nurses in the unit are ACLS (advanced cardiac life support) certified and many have earned the CCRN (certified in critical care nursing) designation. The CICU provides care for about 500 patients per year.
Last Review Date: June 19, 2008 Online Editor(s): Richard Petre |