XML Feed for RxPG News   Add RxPG News Headlines to My Yahoo!   Javascript Syndication for RxPG News

Research Health World General
 
  Home
 
 Latest Research
 Cancer
 Psychiatry
 Genetics
 Surgery
 Aging
 Ophthalmology
 Gynaecology
 Neurosciences
 Pharmacology
 Cardiology
 Obstetrics
 Infectious Diseases
 Respiratory Medicine
 Pathology
 Endocrinology
 Immunology
 Nephrology
 Gastroenterology
 Biotechnology
 Radiology
 Dermatology
 Microbiology
 Haematology
 Dental
 ENT
 Environment
 Embryology
 Orthopedics
 Metabolism
 Anaethesia
 Paediatrics
 Public Health
 Urology
 Musculoskeletal
 Clinical Trials
 Physiology
 Biochemistry
 Cytology
 Traumatology
 Rheumatology
 
 Medical News
 Health
 Opinion
 Healthcare
  UK
  USA
  World
  India
  South Africa
  New Zealand
  Australia
  Canada Healthcare
  China Healthcare
  Africa
 Professionals
 Launch
 Awards & Prizes
 
 Careers
 Medical
 Nursing
 Dental
 
 Special Topics
 Euthanasia
 Ethics
 Evolution
 Odd Medical News
 Feature
 
 World News
 Tsunami
 Epidemics
 Climate
 Business
Search

Last Updated: Nov 17th, 2006 - 22:35:04

Healthcare Channel
subscribe to Healthcare newsletter

Medical News : Healthcare

   DISCUSS   |   EMAIL   |   PRINT
Concerns Regarding Regionalized Heart Attack Care
Mar 18, 2005, 15:33, Reviewed by: Dr.

"The health care system in the United States is clearly not the same as Europe. Patients are farther from hospitals and our EMS doesn't have experience recognizing the specific group of patients who will benefit from these treatments. It only seems reasonable that we should test for ourselves in the United States whether such a system works before we adopt it."

 
Calls for the regionalization of acute coronary syndromes (heart attacks as they are more commonly called) are based on recently published studies conducted predominantly in Europe that suggest that transferring patients from smaller hospitals to larger hospitals so they might receive interventional therapies could reduce mortality, Krumholz writes. "The health care system in the United States is clearly not the same as Europe," Krumholz notes. "Patients are farther from hospitals and our EMS doesn't have experience recognizing the specific group of patients who will benefit from these treatments. It only seems reasonable that we should test for ourselves in the United States whether such a system works before we adopt it."

Calls to regionalize the care of patients with heart attacks are premature, and do not account for potential unintended consequences, according to a commentary by Yale researchers published in today's Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA).

"Much of the enthusiasm for the regionalization of heart attack care has focused on what its upsides may be, without adequately considering how realistic some of these benefits are or the potential negative implications of such a policy, " notes Harlan M. Krumholz, M.D., professor of internal medicine (cardiology) and Epidemiology and Public Health (Health Policy and Administration).

Saif Rathore, the study's first author and a second-year medical student at the Yale School of Medicine, is also concerned about the feasibility of regionalization. "Proponents often compare regionalization of acute coronary syndrome care to trauma, because trauma care is regionalized," Rathore said. "That's an unfair comparison. Any four-year-old can recognize trauma. Recognizing acute coronary syndromes care is much more complicated. There's an impression that real-life heart attacks are like those portrayed on television, where patients clutch their chests and fall to the floor. That's not the case. Proof of this can be found in national studies that indicate more than 80 percent of patients who arrive at a hospital with chest pain symptoms aren't experiencing a heart attack."

Andrew Epstein, assistant professor of Public Health (Health Policy and Administration) believes the adoption of such a system may require a large-scale reorganization of U.S. health care. "Assuming that regionalizing care could be done with perfect clinical accuracy, we estimate that you would need to transfer more than 500,000 Americans from the hospitals at which they are currently treated so that they could have access to interventional treatments like cardiac catheterization and bypass surgery," Epstein said. "That's a huge number and its feasibility is debatable." Epstein also commented on the possible downsides from a regionalization policy, including financial difficulties for hospitals that no longer treat patients with heart attacks and increased costs resulting from a reduction in hospital competition in the cardiovascular procedure market.
 

- JAMA , Vol. 293, No. 11, March 16, 2005.
 

http://www.yale.edu/

 
Subscribe to Healthcare Newsletter
E-mail Address:

 

Authors include Rathore, Epstein and Krumholz at Yale and Kevin G. M. Volpp, M.D., assistant professor of medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and Staff Physician at the Philadelphia Veterans' Affairs Center for Health Equities Research and Promotion.

Related Healthcare News

Indians among worst affected by TB in Britain
Future of sexual and reproductive health at tipping point according to global study
Profiles of serial killers have limitations
Concerns over abortion law in the US state of South Dakota
European Alcohol Strategy Threatened by Industry Tactics
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory Opens the National Center for X-ray Tomography (NCXT)
States That Easily Grant Immunization Exemptions Have Higher Incidence Of Whooping Cough
Study calls for 39 percent more family physicians in USA
Mental health units should not be exempt from smoking ban
Community model effective in allotting anti-AIDS medication


For any corrections of factual information, to contact the editors or to send any medical news or health news press releases, use feedback form

Top of Page

 

© Copyright 2004 onwards by RxPG Medical Solutions Private Limited
Contact Us