Advocacy Webinar Recording
Excellence in AMI
The medical standard for timely angioplasty was 90 minutes door to balloon. The average for Lehigh Valley Health Network was 150 minutes with variation of monthly averages. Meanwhile the average for beginning thrombolytics therapy was much higher than the standard of 30 minutes. In stages over several years, the hospital standardized the initial decision process and instituted a well-understood set of specific steps for team members. Each stage of standardization and pathway improvement saved precious minutes in the effort to open up coronary arteries and take patients out of harm's way. The ultimate result was a drop in the heart-attack mortality rate that in 2008 earned Lehigh the distinction of best hospital in the nation for acute MI survival. In 2008, the national 30-day heart-attack mortality rate was 16.1 percent among the 4,000 hospitals providing heart-attack care. Lehigh's rate of 11.6 percent was lowest in the nation. For further information, contact Matthew.Burns@lvh.com
The medical standard for timely angioplasty was 90 minutes door to balloon. The average for Lehigh Valley Health Network was 150 minutes with variation of monthly averages. Meanwhile the average for beginning thrombolytics therapy was much higher than the standard of 30 minutes. In stages over several years, the hospital standardized the initial decision process and instituted a well-understood set of specific steps for team members. Each stage of standardization and pathway improvement saved precious minutes in the effort to open up coronary arteries and take patients out of harm's way. The ultimate result was a drop in the heart-attack mortality rate that in 2008 earned Lehigh the distinction of best hospital in the nation for acute MI survival. In 2008, the national 30-day heart-attack mortality rate was 16.1 percent among the 4,000 hospitals providing heart-attack care. Lehigh's rate of 11.6 percent was lowest in the nation. For further information, contact Matthew.Burns@lvh.com