title: Three teams improving thrombolytic therapy.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The American Heart Association (AHA) standard for delivering thrombolytic therapy to chest pain patients is 30 to 60 minutes after patient presentation to the emergency department. Three acute care hospitals in an integrated health system in northern California shortened the time of administration of thrombolytic agents to appropriate patients presenting with chest pain in the emergency department.
  Physician-led multidisciplinary teams developed algorithms to reduce variation and decrease the thrombolytic administration process to 30 minutes. Changes were made to prehospital and hospital thrombolytic policies and staff practices.
  Each of the three acute care hospitals reduced their thrombolytic administration time by 48% to 59% to levels within the AHA standard.
  Internal benchmarking for clinical processes promotes a synergy between hospitals and medical staffs for the improvement of patient care. Multidisciplinary teams, which include community representatives, achieve a thorough understanding of a process, which in turn reduces variation in practice and improves quality.
authors.affiliation: St Joseph's Regional Health System, Stockton, California, USA.
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Mitchell
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Fife
authors.forename: A A
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Chothia
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Leong
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Dixon
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Airola
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Stickney
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Mueller
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Ruvalcaba
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Neuman
mesh_terms: D000465:Algorithms; D000572:American Heart Association; D002140:California; D002637:Chest Pain / Q000188:drug therapy*; D004636:Emergency Service, Hospital; D006801:Humans; D010348:Patient Care Team; D011785:Quality Assurance, Health Care; D015912:Thrombolytic Therapy / Q000592:standards*; D013997:Time Factors; D014481:United States