Heart Attack Measures

• Heart Attack Home
• Aspirin on Admission
• Aspirin on Discharge
• Beta Blocker on Discharge
• Ace Inhibitor or ARB
• Smoking Cessation Information
• PCI Within 90 Minutes
• Mortality Rate
• Quality Measures Home

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Heart Attack Quality Measures

Choose a measure below to see scores for HealthEast hospitals
(St. Joseph's, St. John's and Woodwinds), as well as the average for Minnesota hospitals and top hospitals in the nation. Also, learn more about the measures and why they are important.

For those experiencing a heart attack, find out about the:

• Percent of patients given aspirin at admission
  
  
• Percent of patients given aspirin at discharge
  
  
• Percent of patients given beta blocker at discharge
  
  
• Percent of patients given ACE Inhibitors or ARBs
  
  
• Percent of patients given smoking cessation advice/counseling
  
  
• Percent of patients given percutaneous coronary interventions (PCI) within 90 minutes of arriving at the hospital
  
  
• In-hospital mortality rate
  

What contributes to our high scores?

HealthEast Heart Care has consistently high scores. For heart attack, we attribute this to:

• Our Level One program for heart attacks. By partnering with community emergency medical services (EMS), our program reduces the amount of time between arriving at the hospital and angioplasty, the preferred treatment for a heart attack. The result is quick care to remove a blockage,which can reduce damage to the heart muscle and may mean a better outcome.
  
  
• HealthEast's Women's HeartAdvantage program. Teaches women about heart disease, including risk factors, signs and symptoms, and critical questions to ask her doctor.
  
  
• Cardiac rehabilitation for younger patients. Some patients today are experiencing heart attacks at a younger age. They may have children at home and a demanding career. Because their needs are different, we offer an accelerated program with more flexible cardiac rehab hours and therapists who are trained to work with their unique needs.

About heart attacks

A heart attack (also called an acute myocardial infarction) happens when the arteries leading to the heart become blocked and the blood supply is slowed or stopped. When the heart muscle can’t get the oxygen and nutrients it needs, the part of the heart tissue that is affected may die.

The symptoms of a heart attack can include:

• chest pain (often described as a crushing, squeezing or burning pain in the center of the chest and may radiate to your arm or jaw)
• shortness of breath
• dizziness or faintness
• sweating
• nausea
• cold or clammy skin
• a gray or very ill appearance.

Sometimes there may be no symptoms, especially if you have diabetes. Women sometimes have different symptoms, such as a different kind of chest pain and/or abdominal pain.

Description above from the United States Department of Health & Human Services Hospital Compare web site: www.hospitalcompare.hhs.gov