Responses to Symptoms of Acute Myocardial Infarction: Reasons for Delay and Bystanders' Role / 간호학회지

SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY: Acute myocardial infarction (AMI) is a major cause of death in Korea. Delay in seeking treatment may cause unnecessary exacerbation of the disease and early mortality from AMI. Patients' recognition of symptoms of an AMI and response to those symptoms may influence the delay time. Bystanders' role in patients' seeking treatment after AMI has not been studied in previous research. Understanding reasons for delay in seeking treatment is important in developing interventions for reducing these delays and increasing survival rate from AMI. PURPOSE OF THE STUDY: A retrospective survey was conducted with 144 AMI patients to: (1) investigate time from symptom onset to arrival at the first hospital for treatment of AMI; (2) describe patient's and bystander's response to the patient's symptoms; (3)examine whether patient's and bystander's responses affect delay time. RESULTS: The mean of overall pre-hospital delay time was 13.64 (21.86) hours and it consisted of patients' delay of 13.64 (22.32) hours and transportation time of 24.86 (19.41) minutes. People living in rural area delayed longer than people living in urban area. Pre-hospital delay time was associated with the bystander: patients delayed longer when they were with their spouse, family and friends than when with colleagues at work. Calling 119 saved transportation time, but did not reduce overall pre-hospital delay time. CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTIONS: Patients delay longer than the time window for a successful reperfusion therapy when they experience symptoms of AMI; and calling 119 does not diminish this delay. Bystanders' adequate response to the patients' symptom may reduce the delay time in seeking treatment. Findings from this study may suggest that health education and public campaigns are needed to increase people's recognition of symptoms of an AMI and to promote adequate response from bystanders to the AMI symptoms. In addition, public campaigns urging car operators to yield to the emergency vehicle are needed in order to reduce transportation time.

Pre-hospital Delay in Treatment after Acute Myocardial Infarction / 간호학회지

SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY: Acute myocardial infarction (AMI) is a major cause of death. Most of the deaths from AMI, if diagnosed and treated early enough, can be prevented. Delay in treatment may cause unnecessary exacerbation of the disease and even death in AMI patients. PURPOSE OF THE STUDY: A retrospective survey was conducted to (1) investigate the delay time in AMI patients' seeking treatment from symptom onset to arrival at the first hospital (overall pre-hospital delay), the length of time taken for decision-making (patients' delay) and transport (transportation time); (2) to identify factors associated with delay times; (3) to compare delay times between the group who called 119 and the group who did not. RESULTS: The mean of overall pre-hospital delay time was 17.42 (+/-24.03) hours and it was consisted of patients' delay, 17.07(+/-24.45), and transportation time, .84 (+/-2.34). None of socio-demographic variables such as age, sex, marital status, monthly income, education, and living environment was associated with either the patients' delay or the overall delay time. Living rural area (F=4.483, p=.016), having previous MI (F=35.252, p=.000), and other heart disease (F=69.435, p=.000) decreased transportation time; having previous heart disease decreased overall pre-hospital delay(F=4.489, p=.039); and having angina (F=92.907, p=.000) and CAD (F=9.724, p=.003) increased transportation time. Place of symptom attack, bystander, whether patients or bystander called 119, modes of transportation, intensity of pain, presence of typical chest pain and anxiety perceived by patients were not associated with any of delay times. No significant differences appeared between the group who called 119 and the group who did not in any of delay times. CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTIONS: Although number of patients who arrive at the hospital early enough for treatment tend to be increasing, considerable number of patients still delayed longer than desired when they experienced symptoms of AMI, and calling 119 did not diminish this delay because patients delayed mostly before they decided to call. Living urban area, having previous MI, and heart disease decreased transportation time whereas having previous heart disease decreased the overall pre-hospital delay time and having previous angina and CAD increased transportation time. Further studies to identify reasons for real late arrivals as well as public campaigns to reduce delay time in treatment are needed.