Kentucky Hospital Improves Treatment for Heart Attack Patients Through Collaboration and Technology [Press Release]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

St. Elizabeth Healthcare, in Edgewood, Kentucky, decreased the time to treat critical heart attack patients by 30 percent.

Edgewood, KY – Mar. 30, 2017 – In the past year, St. Elizabeth Healthcare in Edgewood, Kentucky, significantly decreased the time-to-treatment for heart attack patients, following an effort by stakeholders from every part of the care team to collaborate and improve processes that speed up care. This improvement was due also in part to the use of a mobile app, Pulsara, which puts timely, clear information in the hands of everyone responsible for caring for the patient, both inside and outside of the hospital.

For patients who arrived at St. Elizabeth Edgewood via ambulance, the average time from first medical contact (FMC) — defined as the moment emergency medical services (EMS) first arrives at the patient’s side — to the administration of artery-opening treatment in the hospital dropped 30 percent, from 103 minutes in the first quarter of 2016 to 72 minutes in January 2017. The American Heart Association (AHA) recommends aiming for a time-to-treatment of less than 90 minutes because it has been associated with better outcomes for heart attack patients.

“Reducing time-to-treatment for patients does not happen without effort,” said Kami Tehrani, DO, a cardiologist with the St. Elizabeth Heart & Vascular Institute. “A committed team of individuals including administrators, physicians, EMS personnel, and frontline staff worked tirelessly to put changes in place that have made these gains possible.”

In 2016, St. Elizabeth Healthcare and EMS agencies in the community also began using Pulsara, a mobile application that has fueled the improvements. Using Pulsara, EMS practitioners in the field or staff in the Emergency Department can instantly send an EKG to the cardiologist and alert the on-call Cath Lab team.

“This single point of instantaneous information speeds communication and creates a team of people all working together to literally ‘beat the clock’: The app includes a countdown clock so that everyone knows how they are doing against the benchmark time of 90 minutes,” explained cardiologist Mohanjit Brar, MD, with the St. Elizabeth Heart & Vascular Institute.

St. Elizabeth Healthcare, located in the Greater Cincinnati area, is the only hospital in Kentucky, Ohio or Indiana to use Pulsara. St. Elizabeth has paid for licensing to put it in the hands of any Northern Kentucky EMS department that wants to participate.

“This improvement underscores the importance of utilizing 911 in the event of heart attack symptoms,” added Phil Dietz, a firefighter/paramedic and EMS coordinator for several Northern Kentucky fire departments. “Paramedics can perform an EKG and get information to the hospital so physicians and staff are ready for the patient when they arrive. Every minute saved improves patient outcomes. Minutes matter. ”

With collaboration, St. Elizabeth Healthcare is setting a new standard.

“As providers of heart attack care, we keep raising the bar on ourselves,” said Jason A. Murray, MD, an emergency physician at St. Elizabeth Healthcare. “Today the goal is 90 minutes from first medical contact to treatment. We are seeing that by working as a team we not only can reach that benchmark but we can exceed it.”

Watch recent news coverage of how Dr. Brar and the St. Elizabeth teams use Pulsara -- with a bonus interview of a recent cardiac patient -- right here.  

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About St. Elizabeth Healthcare

St. Elizabeth Healthcare operates seven facilities throughout Northern Kentucky and more than 115 primary care and specialty office locations in Kentucky, Indiana and Ohio. St. Elizabeth is sponsored by the Diocese of Covington and is a member of the Mayo Clinic Care Network. St. Elizabeth is a mission-based organization committed to improving the health of the communities it serves, providing more than $104 million in uncompensated care and benefit to the community in 2015. For more information, visit www.stelizabeth.com.

About Pulsara

Pulsara is a digital healthcare corporation that focuses on using mobile technology to enhance treatment time outcomes by improving communication and care coordination through the entire healthcare system. Pulsara’s mobile application packages for stroke, STEMI, and general patients improve communications between the teams caring for those critical patients, leading to faster treatment. Every clinician – from paramedics to emergency department staff to neurology and cardiology teams – is on the same page with a simple tap. For more information, visit www.pulsara.com.

 Contact:
Kris Kaull  
Pulsara
406.600.0960
kris@pulsara.com