Process Factors Affecting Door to Percutaneous Coronary Intervention for Acute Myocardial Infarction Patients

Abstract

The purpose of this cross-sectional study was to identify key predictor variables with the most impact on door-to-balloon time for acute myocardial infarction patients. The authors examined arrival, process, and patient-related variables from retrospective data from calendar years 2006 and 2007 within a single community hospital (N = 273). The door-to-balloon time ranged from 28 to 167 minutes, with an average of 76.77 (standard deviation ±24.5) minutes. Key predictor variables identified through multivariate linear regression included portable chest X-ray, presentation from walk-in versus ambulance, responding cardiology group, emergency department (ED) time of arrival (day 8 am to 5 pm or night 5 pm to 8 am), ED day of arrival (weekday or weekend), if a code R was called prior to arrival, and if the patient was identified as having chest pain on admission to the ED. For patients with acute myocardial infarction at a single study site, the authors identified a number of key factors that delay prompt reperfusion.