Doctors Dont Follow Heart Attack Guidelines

When a patient presents to the emergency room with symptoms of chest pain- the ER staff should quickly confirm the diagnosis of heart attack and initiate the appropriate therapy. If a heart attack is diagnosed each minute marked without treatment translates into greater damage of the heart?s muscle, and a higher possibility for disability and death. A research survey highlights that the majority of cardiologists and emergency physicians are not familiar with guidelines for the Management of ST-Elevation Myocardial Infarction or STEMI. This type of heart attack is characterized by a telltale wave pattern on the EKG, indicating that the heart muscle has been damaged due to a lack of blood flow- but has not yet died. The STEMI guidelines include re-establishing blood flow to the damaged area through the placement of a stent- a small hollow tube- into the blocked blood vessel. This allows for greater blood flow to the heart muscle. A stent is placed into the affected blood vessel through a procedure called Percutaneous Coronary Intervention (PCI). This procedure involves a catheter being fed through the blood vessels to the heart via a small incision in the groin. PCI should be done within 90 minutes of establishing medical contact. If a patient cannot undergo PCI within the timeframe then a fibrinolytic agent is recommended for treating patients with STEMI. This therapy involves the use of clot busting medications to dissolve the blood clot in the heart?s blocked blood vessel. An internet-based survey was conducted among more than 1,000 heart specialists and ER doctors to judge how well-versed they were with the above guidelines for Management of STEMI. The survey showed that 24% of the participants were not familiar with the guidelines and over 60% reported a significant opportunity to improve heart attack treatment by educating patients about symptoms of heart attack. More than half of the physicians surveyed reported that eligible patients would only sometimes, rarely or never receive a fibrinolytic agent. About 70% of the physicians reported PCI within 90 minutes of medical contact was not realistic due to the need of transfer of patients to different wards and hospitals. Overall this limited awareness could hamper the treatment of needy patients. Thus awareness among physicians on the management of STEMI seems to be the need of the hour.