In this program, ambulance staff transmit ECGs (electrocardiograms) to the hospital to confirm diagnosis. On arrival, the patient is immediately given a stent to open the blocked artery. 

Because doctors treat the patient sooner, more heart muscle survives. This is crucial to longer-term quality of life.

The program is known as ETAMI (Early Triage of Acute Myocardial Infarction).

North Shore Heart Research Foundation helped equip 40 ambulances with ECG machines.

From ambulance to surgery

A person having a heart attack is triaged (assessed for priority of treatments) in the ambulance. An ECG is sent to catheter laboratories at Royal North Shore Hospital or Westmead Hospital. On-call cardiologists are alerted, and make a diagnosis.

The patient bypasses the emergency department, and has immediate stent surgery. Read more

Keys to success

• Calling an ambulance as soon as a heart attack is suspected.
• Placing cardiac catheter labs only in major hospitals with cardiology teams on call.
• Triaging by ambulance crews.
• Taking heart attack patients to major rather than local hospitals.

A joint effort

This program has been running at the Royal North Shore Hospital and Westmead Hospital since 2004. It is a collaborative effort between the Northern Sydney and Western Area Health Services and NSW Ambulance.