Medical Excellence in an Emergency
- Winter 2022
Brookings Health’s emergency department serves as the frontline of the Top 20 Rural Community Hospital experience for many patients who stay in Brookings Hospital. As part of that experience, patients can expect high-quality care as demonstrated by the emergency team’s performance on three key quality indicators: physical trauma response time, chest pain medication administration time, and stroke brain scan results time.
Physical Trauma Response Time
According to the American Trauma Society, physical trauma is “severe blunt, blast or penetrating injury primarily caused by automobile crashes, gunshots, knife wounds, falls, battery or burns.” A patient’s survival is dependent on the strength of the trauma system in the patient’s geographical area, including delivering immediate medical care to the patient.
As a designated trauma receiving hospital, Brookings Health System’s trauma team activates within 15 minutes of notification from emergency medical services.
That means all the resources and personnel necessary to care for a trauma patient’s clinical needs are ready to quickly administer care once the trauma patient arrives. Brookings Health provides advanced trauma life support and evaluates, stabilizes, and diagnoses the patient before transferring them to a higher-level trauma center.
Chest Pain Medication Administration Time
A heart attack occurs when an artery that sends blood and oxygen to the heart is blocked. Time is muscle with heart attacks. The longer treatment is delayed, the less oxygen the heart receives and the more damage that occurs to the muscle.
A quick response time for heart attack increases a patient’s recovery success. That’s why when patients come to the emergency room with chest pain, the most common heart attack symptom, they should receive medication to break up blood clots as soon as possible.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) measures hopsital performance nationwide on heart attack care. The current CMS national average for the percentage of patients having an acute heart attack who got drugs to break up blood clots within 30 minutes of arrival was at 53%. The South Dakota average for hospitals is only at 41%. Brookings Health System outperformed both the national and state averages at 78%. Receiving the clot-busting medication so quickly increases the patient’s chance for a successful recovery.
Stroke Brain Scan Results Time
A stroke occurs when either blood supply to the brain is shut off or when a blood vessel in the brain bursts. In both situations, parts of the brain become damaged or die. Time equals brain. The quicker a stroke is treated and oxygen is restored to the brain, the better the recovery outcome for patients.
To treat a stroke, doctors must first understand what type of stroke is occurring. The best way to diagnose a stroke is with a brain scan.
CMS measures emergency room performance nationwide on stroke care. The current CMS national average for the percentage of patients who came to an emergency department with stroke symptoms and received brain scan results with 45 minutes of arrivals is 70%. The South Dakota average for hospitals is only at 58%. Brookings Health System outperformed both the national and state averages at 100%. By confirming the stroke type with a brain scan, medical providers can begin the appropriate treatment to help patients recover.