title: Thrombolysis for acute myocardial infarction in Australasia 1999.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To describe revascularization practice for acute myocardial infarction in a sample of Australasian hospitals during 1999.
  
  
  METHODS
  Survey for the 1999 calendar year.
  
  
  METHODS
  Hospitals with Australasian College for Emergency Medicine-accredited emergency departments in Australia and New Zealand.
  
  
  METHODS
  Forty-eight hospitals of 80 surveyed (60%), comprising 15 tertiary and 33 non-tertiary hospitals.
  
  
  METHODS
  Time from arrival in emergency department to initiation of thrombolytic therapy, site of therapy, agent used, mortality and intracranial haemorrhage rates.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Approximately 30% of patients with acute myocardial infarction had revascularization therapy. Sixty-two per cent of patients receiving thrombolytics were given this treatment in the emergency department, the remainder in the coronary care unit. Overall median door-to-needle times were 35.0 min emergency department versus 48.3 min coronary care unit. Streptokinase was used for 58.3% of thrombolysis. In-hospital mortality of thrombolysed patients was 6.7% in the emergency department versus 4.3% in the coronary care unit with intracranial haemorrhage rates of 0.8% emergency department and 0.7% coronary care unit.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Overall times to thrombolysis and outcome rates in this sample were within internationally reported figures. Emergency department times were shorter than in coronary care unit.
authors.affiliation: Emergency Department, Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital, Department of Emergency Medicine, University of Western Australia, Perth, Western Australia, Australia. david.mountain@health.wa.gov.au
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Mountain
authors.forename: George A
authors.initials: GA
authors.lastname: Jelinek
authors.forename: Debra L
authors.initials: DL
authors.lastname: O'Brien
authors.forename: Sharyn L
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: Ingarfield
authors.forename: Ian G
authors.initials: IG
authors.lastname: Jacobs
authors.forename: Dania M
authors.initials: DM
authors.lastname: Lynch
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D001315:Australia; D004636:Emergency Service, Hospital; D005343:Fibrinolytic Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use; D019538:Health Care Surveys; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009203:Myocardial Infarction / Q000188:drug therapy*; D009520:New Zealand; D013300:Streptokinase / Q000627:therapeutic use; D015912:Thrombolytic Therapy / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*
chemical_list: D005343:Fibrinolytic Agents; D013300:Streptokinase