Community Corner

Bryn Mawr Tries to Reduce 'Door to Device' Time

The hospital will soon have heart attack patients bypass the Emergency Room.

On Thursday morning a man having a heart attack was on his way to Bryn Mawr Hospital in an ambulance. The Narberth Ambulance medics notified the hospital by transmitting his EKG and were working on stabilizing him as they transported him.

When he arrived at Bryn Mawr, the man was not breathing. Not because of his heart attack, but because he was never alive to begin with. He was a practice "dummy."

The training is part of the hospital's attempt to reduce the "door to device" time in cardiac care. Soon the hospital will stop the practice of admitting heart attack patients in the ER first and then sending them to the "cath lab" for procedures to open arteries, said Kim Mayhew, the chest pain center coordinator at Bryn Mawr.

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Now all of the Advanced Cardiovascular Life Support providers that transport patients to Bryn Mawr have the technology to transmit EKGs to the hospital. As soon as the hospital is alerted to an incoming patient, they can start their processes in preparation, Mayhew said.

The medics in ambulances have pretty much the same capacity to stabilize patients en route, so the hospital and ambulance corps are working to get rid of redundancies, said medic Alex Kurtzman. The ambulance can get to a hospital from almost anywhere in Lower Merion in under 10 minutes, he said.

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When it comes to cardiac arrests, less time traveling means a greater chance at life.


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