Heart Attack Care Quality Measures -
Patients Given Aspirin at Arrival

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A heart attack may also be called an acute myocardial infarction (AMI), and is a life-threatening event that is caused when the arteries leading to the heart become blocked and the blood supply is slowed or stopped. This keeps much-needed oxygen from reaching the heart muscle. When a heart attack occurs, immediately taking aspirin and other medical treatments can reduce damage to the heart and even save a life. The quality measures in this section show some of the medically accepted standards for the care of AMI, as well as whether patients leave the hospital with medications and instructions known to be helpful after a heart attack.

Percent of Patients Given Aspirin at Arrival

This percentage addresses heart attack patients who received an aspirin within 24 hours before or after arrival at the hospital. Aspirin can help keep blood clots from forming and dissolve existing blood clots that can cause heart attacks. The early use of aspirin improves the chances of survival for heart attack patients.

The data used to compute the indicator percentage for the system overall and each individual facility was collected from January 2009 to March 2009.