Journal
FAMILY PRACTICE
Volume 18, Issue 5, Pages 537-539Publisher
OXFORD UNIV PRESS
DOI: 10.1093/fampra/18.5.537
Keywords
community medicine; health education; myocardial infarction
Categories
Ask authors/readers for more resources
Background. Community education programmes focused on raising public awareness of the symptomatology of acute coronary syndromes have had mixed results. Objectives. The Wabasha Heart Attack Team project, a unique multidisciplinary public education effort in Minnesota, sought to educate area citizens about signs and symptoms of acute myocardial infarction (MI). Methods. After an intensive 1-month education period, we compared presentations for emergency evaluation of chest pain during the study period with baseline data from the same seasonal period of the preceding year. Results. Visits to the Emergency Room for symptomatic heart disease increased significantly during the study period (56 patients versus 46 patients during the baseline period), as did the percentage of patients presenting with acute MI (18% versus 12%, P <0.05). Use of emergency medical sevices for pre-hospital evaluation was significantly increased (41% versus 27%, P < 0.05). Conclusion. A community education campaign can significantly increase use of pre-hospital emergency medical service resources and may increase the number of patients presenting with acute chest pain symptoms, including Mi.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available