Role of primary care physicians in treating patients with ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction located in remote areas (from the REseau Nord-Alpin des Urgences [RENAU], Network)

Background: European guidelines for ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) encourage healthcare networks to increase rates of, and decrease delays to, reperfusion. We examined the impact of training primary care physicians (PCPs) to use equipment for pre-hospital management of STEMI patients in remote areas.

Methods and results: A network for cardiac emergencies was set up in the French Northern Alps in 2002 and a registry of STEMI patients has been kept since. In 2005, 24 local volunteer PCPs were trained and equipped with electrocardiograms, fibrinolysis kits, and automated external defibrillators to deal with cardiac emergencies in remote areas (>30-minute ambulance travelling time). In this study, when the central call dispatcher received a telephone call from a patient in a remote area reporting chest pain with a high probability of STEMI, the dispatcher sent a mobile intensive care unit (MICU) with an emergency physician on board and asked the local PCP, if available, to manage the patient while awaiting arrival of the MICU. Patients in whom the diagnosis of STEMI was confirmed were taken by MICU to an interventional cardiology hospital. We report on patients who received care from a PCP before arrival of the MICU. Between 2005 and 2010, 4,015 patients were enrolled in the registry; 180 patients were located in a remote area, of whom 140 were in an area covered by a participating PCP. Of the 62 patients attended by a PCP before MICU arrival, 27 received thrombolysis and eight patients with ventricular tachycardia/fibrillation were shocked with an automated external defibrillator by the PCP. Mean times from telephone call to thrombolysis were shorter when the patient was attended by a PCP (45.0 ± 25.5 vs 62.4 ± 23.4 min without intervention; p = 0.003). STEMI diagnosis without contraindication to thrombolysis was confirmed in 26 of 27 patients treated as such by PCPs and 1 patient was diagnosed with a Tako-Tsubo syndrome.

Conclusion: PCP care of STEMI patients located in isolated areas appears efficient, with high rates of resuscitation and thrombolysis and a shorter delay to reperfusion.