Heart attack protocol to save vital time

Flight intensive care paramedic Paul Davis, based in Whangarei, has helped with the new system. Photo / APN

A team of Northland-based medical experts have achieved a first for New Zealand and created a system that could save valuable minutes for heart attack patients.

The new procedure enables the rapid helicopter transfer of Whangarei heart attack patients to Auckland Hospital for time-critical, life-saving treatment.

The Northland District Health Board and Whangarei St John Ambulance Service have developed an autonomous paramedic-initiated system.

The new system, referred to as the Code STEMI Bypass, will see ambulance paramedics transport heart attack patients from within the Whangarei area directly to the Northland Emergency Services Trust helicopter base on Western Hills Drive, bypassing the Whangarei Hospital Emergency Department.

Once at the helicopter base, the patient will be re-assessed by a St John flight intensive care paramedic to determine their eligibility for transfer to Auckland Hospital, where they would go into surgery immediately.

Currently unavailable in Northland, the surgery, referred to as percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI), is where a surgeon places a small stent in the affected artery of a patient's heart to restore normal blood flow impaired due to an occluding clot.

Although an alternative drug treatment is available, PCI has shown to be superior.

One of the project developers, flight intensive care paramedic Paul Davis, said the first patient was flown following the launch of the protocol this month. Mr Davis said the patient received PCI treatment within 100 minutes from when ambulance paramedics first arrived at the patient's house.

"With international guidelines recommending a goal of less than 120 minutes from first medical professional contact with the patient to the time in which they receive the treatment, this result was an excellent start to the trial and one which the Whangarei paramedics hope to continue," Mr Davis said.

He said the role of New Zealand paramedics as medical professionals within the pre-hospital emergency setting had evolved rapidly in recent years.

"Our education and training has also expanded, coinciding with increasing complexities in patient care due to the advancing age of our population, who exhibit greater health issues and increased levels of prescribed drug therapy."

Northland St John operations manager Wally Mitchell added that without the support of key stakeholders such as the Northland DHB and Auckland City Hospital Interventional Cardiology Department, it would not have been possible.

"Their confidence in our paramedics will hopefully not only benefit the people of Whangarei, but also our growing profession."