Heart Attack Patients Given Aspirin at Arrival

What Does This Measure?

The percentage of eligible heart attack patients who received aspirin within 24 hours of their arrival at the hospital.

Why Is This Important?

Heart attacks often occur when blood clots cause blockages in blood vessels, depriving the heart of sufficient oxygen.

Although it is not appropriate for all patients, aspirin is a safe and effective way to prevent blood clots and dissolve blood clots that have already formed. Chewing an aspirin at the onset of heart attack symptoms may help reduce the severity of an attack.

What Are We Doing to Improve Our Performance?

Duke has enacted several initiatives to improve our performance. These include:

• Evidence-based medicine
• Computerized physician order entry (CPOE)
• Standardized order sets
• Patient rounding
  
• Electronic medical records (EMR)
• Six Sigma and DMAIC (define, measure, analyze, improve, and control process) methodologies
• Emergency Department nursing and physician education
• Patient safety and clinical quality committees
• Heart attack-specific patient education and instructions
• Patient advocacy and support groups
• HealthView patient portal

More Information

• See more heart attack quality measures
• See all performance measures
• Compare Duke to other North Carolina hospitals at NC Hospital Quality Report
• Compare Duke to regional and national hospitals at Hospital Quality Alliance's Hospital Compare