Physio-Control announced availability of the ReadyLink 12-Lead ECG device, a new solution designed to improve care for heart attack patients and speed time to treatment. ReadyLink gives prehospital basic life support (BLS) providers a new, easy to use tool to help identify STEMI patients and get them to the appropriate facility as quickly as possible, helping reduce door-to-balloon (D2B) times.
ReadyLink enables BLS teams to acquire and transmit a patient’s 12-lead ECG to hospitals using the LIFENET System, Physio-Control’s cloud-based data network for remote physician interpretation and decision support. ReadyLink is designed to quickly capture data in the field and then send that information through the LIFENET System so that it can be interpreted by qualified personnel, either at a hospital or EMS medical control, allowing the most appropriate and efficient course of care to be determined.
Just this week, Circulation, the Journal of the American Heart Association, published a study that reported from 2005 to 2010, door-to-balloon time declined from a median of 96 minutes to 64 minutes. Despite the recent gains, the study identified additional opportunities for improvement in D2B times, noting that the most outstanding institutions are now regularly achieving times under 60 minutes through strategies including coordination with Emergency Medical Services and the collection and dissemination of a prehospital ECG. The study can be found at: http://circ.ahajournals.org/content/early/2011/08/21/CIRCULATIONAHA.111.044107.abstract
ReadyLink includes a training DVD featuring renown 12-lead ECG educator, Tim Phalen, BS, REMT, covering skin prep and electrode placement, using the device, and real-world tips for 12-lead acquisition. Tim has provided 12 Lead ECG education to more than 35,000 EMS providers over the last decade and is the author of “The 12 Lead ECG in Acute Myocardial Infarction.”
Additional information can be found on the press release below or at: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20110824005075/en/Physio-Control-Introduces-Basic-Life-Support-12-Lead-ECG. ReadyLink photography can be found on Physio-Control’s Flickr photo stream: http://www.flickr.com/photos/physio-control/sets/72157627504398048/.
