Mobile Coronary Care

¹ Royal Victoria Hospital, Belfast, Ireland

Conventional coronary care units have a minimal effect on the overall mortality from coronary thrombosis in the community. The majority of the patients, when they reach a hospital coronary care unit, are either convalescent or moribund. The pre-hospital coronary care scheme allows coronary care to reach patients soon after the onset of symptoms at a time at which risk is greatest. The median time between the onset of symptoms and the initiation of coronary care has been reduced from more than eight hours to one hour 40 minutes. Pre-hospital coronary care reduces mortality by making possible the prevention or correction of ventricular fibrillation outside hospital. The early initiation of coronary care reduces the hospital mortality from shock and pump failure by the prevention or immediate correction of dysrhythmias.