When Heart Attacks Strike Every Second Counts
Riverside's Rapid and Efficient Heart Attack Response System

When a severe heart attack strikes, opening the patient's blocked arteries as quickly as possible can mean the difference between life and death. When paramedics diagnose a severe heart attack through an electro-cardiogram, Riverside Methodist's Heart Attack Response System, or ST Elevation Myocardial Infarction (STEMI) Alert is activated. Physicians and staff are then immediately mobilized to prepare for the heart attack patient's arrival to the Emergency Department.

These extra minutes of preparation dramatically reduce Riverside Methodist Hospital's time between a patient's arrival and their emergency angioplasty or stent placement - often referred to as "door to balloon time."  The national goal for door to balloon time is 90 minutes. Since initiating the STEMI Alert system, Riverside's average door to balloon time has dropped from 72 minutes to 53 minutes, a response time that very few hospitals in the nation have achieved.

How the STEMI Alert system works

The Riverside Emergency Department activates the STEMI Alert:

• A series of overhead and digital pages alerts emergency and cardiac physicians and staff.
• The cardiac care unit rapidly mobilizes for an emergency angioplasty or stent placement.
• Medications are administered to stabilize the patient in the ED.
• The patient is taken to the cardiac catheterization lab, just one floor above in the McConnell Heart Hospital.

Reducing door-to-balloon time is a complex challenge, requiring the coordination of EMS, Emergency Department staff, cardiologists and nurses. Always a leader in heart care in central Ohio, Riverside Methodist Hospital continues to work to improve upon its already exemplary standard of care delivered to all patients by the Riverside Methodist heart team.

Learn more about Heart Care at Riverside

Named to the U.S.News & World Report annual ranking of "America's Best Hospital's" for heart and heart surgery, Riverside Methodist Hospital is home to the largest open-heart programs in central Ohio and is one of the largest interventional cardiology and electrophysiology programs in the country. Read more.