Provider Training Module Written Tutorial
Introduction
- 1.1: The Project UPSTART Provider Education Tutorial
- 1.2: What exactly is STEMI?
- 1.3: STEMI treatment: The theory behind the “need for speed”
- 1.4: Treatment of STEMI
- 1.5: What exactly is “Project UPSTART”?
- 1.6: The four keys to STEMI identification and management
- 1.7: Recognition: the first Key Step
- 1.8: The STEMI ALERT Packet: The Trigger for Reperfusion
- 1.9: Inside the STEMI ALERT Packet
- 1.10: Individual roles of the STEMI care team
- 1.11: Completing Data Sheets A & B
- 1.12: Data Sheets A and B: The Key to Continued Success
- 1.13: STEMI ALERT Data Management: Put That Data to Work!
- 1.14: A final review of the four keys steps
Training Tutorial 1.3
STEMI treatment: The theory behind the “need for speed”
Project UPSTART was designed as a program to help standardize the way we detect and treat ST- segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) more quickly. This is extremely important; the longer a coronary artery remains blocked (as occurs during a heart attack) the greater the amount of cardiac muscle that is damaged or destroyed.
In STEMI, is a treatment time of 45 minutes really better than 90 minutes? What about 45 vs. 60, or 40 vs. 58?
In most cases, the answer is YES, YES and YES! Time = Muscle!
The above graph clearly shows the curve of time vs. potential cardiac muscle salvage. Once an artery is blocked, cell death starts immediately and most damage is done in the first 2 - 3 hours. Therefore, early treatment can have a major payoff. Once an infarct is even several hours old, much of the damage is permanent. That is why early recognition is so important. No recognition = no progress to reperfusion.
This leaves little room for error or indecision. Once we lose time we cannot get it back! What if this was your heart?