UVA has earned a national award from the American College of Cardiology for enhancing care for heart attack patients. UVA is one of just 55 U.S. hospitals to receive the ACTION Registry – Get With The Guidelines Gold Performance Achievement Award.
Hospitals receive the award for consistent compliance with performance measures from the American College of Cardiology and the American Heart Association. The standards focus on improving care for patients with ST-Elevation Myocardial Infarction (STEMI). UVA’s STEMI alert process speeds care for patients with this type of heart attack through an on-call STEMI team that can be brought together within 30 minutes.
Over two consecutive years, UVA met performance standards for treating STEMIs at least 90 percent of the time, including:
- Opening the blocked coronary artery in STEMI patients within 90 minutes of first contact with a rescue squad or other emergency medical responders.
- Providing aspirin to STEMI patients within 24 hours of arrival at the hospital.
- Prescribing beta blockers, aspirin and cholesterol-lowering medications when discharging STEMI patients from the hospital.
- Measuring heart function of STEMI patients before they are discharged from the hospital.
- Providing STEMI patients who smoke with counseling on how to quit smoking before they are discharged from the hospital.