The hospital is no place for a heart attack

A hospital is a bad place to have a heart attack. While cardiologists have made great strides speeding treatments to people who suffer a heart attack outside the hospital, scant attention has gone to patients already in the hospital for an unrelated medical problem who then have an attack. Recent studies suggest those patients are at least three times as likely to die before getting discharged as people who arrive at the emergency room after having a heart attack elsewhere. Now, a group of 12 hospitals are joining forces to develop strategies—involving nurses in non-cardiac units to rapid-response teams in catheterization labs—to hasten care for those suffering in-hospital heart attacks. [Subscription Required]