Effective Factors in Door-to-Needle Time for Streptokinase Administration in Patients With Acute Myocardial Infarction Admitted to the Emergency Department

Background: Cardiovascular incidents are a common cause of death around the world. Acute myocardial infarction (AMI) poses high risks for the patient due to plaque rupture or erosion along with a superimposed non-occlusive thrombus; therefore, timely treatment with antithrombotic agents plays a key role in reducing an AMI mortality rate. Objectives: The present study aimed to assess the time interval between the admission of AMI-suspected patients and treatment initiation. Patients and Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted on ۱۱۰ patients admitted to the emergency department of Imam Hussein hospital in Tehran, Iran. Data were collected using checklists, completed by the patients’ next of kin or the emergency staff. To analyze the data, student t- test and analysis of variance were used. Results: In this study, ۳۱ female and ۷۹ male subjects were included, respectively. The mean time to receive the first dose of streptokinase was ۶۶.۳۹ minutes (۷۳.۷۴ minutes for females and ۶۳.۵ minutes for male patients), varying from ۴۹.۹۲ minutes in the morning to ۶۹.۷۸ minutes in the afternoon and ۷۲.۶۸ minutes during night shifts. Conclusions: The door-to-needle (DTN) time, in a standard setting, is recommended to be less than ۳۰ minutes. According to the results of this study, the DTN time is comparatively two times longer in females and afternoon and night shifts. Different variables including emergency staff, physicians, patients’ characteristics, and environmental/physical factors induced this difference.

کلیدواژه ها:

Acute myocardial infarction ، Emergency Service ، Needle stick Injuries ، Streptokinase