The key to treating patients having a heart attack is to locate and fix the arterial blockage as quickly as possible. As the saying goes, time is muscle. The Lancaster General Hospital Emergency Department & Trauma Center is committed to expediting care for patients having an acute myocardial infarction (heart attack). Starting earlier this year, the department and representatives from the Lancaster General Heart Center began working with Susquehanna Valley Emergency Medical Services (SVEMS) on the use of pre-hospital electrocardiograms (EKGs) to accelerate the treatment process even further.

Paramedics use the pre-hospital EKG when they suspect a patient is having a heart attack. After hooking up the EKG, they can transmit the read-out to Lancaster General Hospital via a phone line. The paramedic then calls the Emergency Department to let them know that the EKG is on its way. The EKG prints out at the Command Center in the Emergency Department.

“A pre-hospital EKG can help the EMS crew determine where to take a patient,” says William Adams, MD, Medical Director of the Department of Emergency Medicine. “Once the paramedics identify that a patient is having a  heart attack, they understand that certain interventional treatments are medically necessary and they know a hospital like Lancaster General has the capabilities to immediately and efficiently treat those patients.”

Paul Casale, MD, Medical Director of the Lancaster General Heart Center and member of The Heart Group, says that currently the best treatment for heart attack patients is balloon angioplasty and placement of a stent (coronary intervention) to open the blocked artery and restore blood flow. “It is vital that the artery be opened as quickly as possible,” he says.

“The pre-hospital EKG alerts us to when a heart attack patient will be arriving,” Dr. Casale continues. “Knowing this in advance enables us to immediately activate our Code R system (rapid response for a heart attack).”

This specially trained Code R team includes cardiologists, cardiovascular technologists, nurses, emergency department physicians and laboratory and radiology personnel.

Lancaster General Hospital is one of only two hospitals in the county uniquely capable of delivering prompt coronary interventional treatment to patients experiencing a heart attack. Our medical professionals are available 24/7 to treat heart attack victims through the use of balloon angioplasty and stent implantation in our catheterization laboratory. In addition, anesthesiologists and Cardiothoracic Surgeons of Lancaster and their support staffs are always on-call for emergency open heart surgery.

Local EMS crews are also a key part of the patient care team. Susquehanna Valley EMS is the first local mobile advanced life support unit to invest in the tools to transmit EKGs from the field to the hospital. Likewise, Lancaster General Hospital is the first local hospital to have the technology to receive the EKG transmissions.

“The overall value of this technology is the fact that it will save lives. No doubt about it,” says Mike Fitzgibbons, Executive Director of Susquehanna Valley EMS. “Now the doctor has the ability to see what is happening in the field before the patient arrives. That’s a big plus.”

Mike estimates that it cost Susquehanna Valley EMS about $80,000 to outfit advanced life support units with the 12-lead EKG machine and Lifepack and to upgrade their transmission capabilities. Part of the cost was covered by a state grant and the remaining portion came from their general operating fund.

Although it is the first local ambulance crew to make the investment, other local companies such as Lancaster Emergency Medical Services Association (LEMSA), Willow Street Ambulance and Northwest are also looking into the technology.

Lancaster General Heart Center is your local resource for complete heart care. Named by U.S. News & World Report for two straight years as one of the “Top 50 Hospitals in America for Heart & Heart Surgery,” the Heart Center is nationally known for its outstanding reputation.