“Having a cardiologist actually on-site at the hospital 24/7 will greatly reduce the ‘door to balloon’ time for heart patients coming through the ER, saving more lives,” said David Veillette, executive vice president of specialty hospitals for Renown Health. “When someone has a heart attack, time translates to (heart) muscle, and every minute counts.”
The time it takes to provide a life-saving angioplasty on a heart patient who arrives in the emergency department is known as “door to balloon” times. Studies have shown that when patients receive treatment within 90 minutes after having a heart attack, the ability to save damaged heart muscle is greatly increased. Renown currently has an average “door to balloon” response rate of 60 minutes, which places it in the top 10 percent in the nation.
“This new enhancement in emergent care for heart conditions will reduce our already nationally recognized ‘door to balloon’ times even further,” Veillette said. “It will also increase the speed and quality of care we are able to deliver in an emergency.”
The 24/7 coverage is made possible due to the resources of Renown Institute for Heart & Vascular Health and its collaboration with staff cardiologists. These cardiologists will rotate their time to be available, even spending the night in the hospital during their rotation. Additionally, Renown has modified protocols to engage interventional vascular suites, equipment and teams immediately as needed.
For more information, visit www.renown.org.
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