Door-To-Balloon Time

The American College of Cardiology and the American Heart Association have established a 90-minute door-to-balloon time as the quality of care benchmark for acute myocardial infarction.

'Door-to-balloon' refers to the interval from patient arrival to inflation of the balloon catheter within the patient's blocked artery. Often, a large portion of that 90-minute window is spent contacting the catheterization team.

PerfectServe provides a failsafe method of reaching the entire team via a single phone call. Variables such as on-call schedules — and team members' individual contact preferences — are taken into account. In the event a team member does not respond immediately, PerfectServe automatically routes the notification to the appropriate back-up team member.

The entire contact process is documented and reports are forwarded to appropriate hospital personnel on a scheduled basis. Thus, a snapshot of team contact performance is always available for review.

A recent story in USA Today regarding door-to-balloon time stated that "Only about one-third of hospitals provide emergency care to heart attack patients quickly enough to meet scientific guidelines for saving lives..." Read More

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