Hospitalization timeliness of patients with myocardial infarction

Abstract

Timely self-help measures and management of acute myocardial infarction (AMI) improve the disease outcomes. Management of AMI is most beneficial if applied within two hours from the onset of symptoms. However, many patients with AMI do not benefit because of seeking medical care late. The aim of research was to study to timeliness of prehospital phase of treatment and investigate the causes of postponement in seeking treatment among patients with AMI. Within the framework of the quantitative research, the beneficiaries were interviewed with a structured questionnaire. The majority of patients did not have necessary pre-hospital self-help measures, and called to the doctor when it was already late. Only 51% of patients appeal to self-help measures and 28% arrived at hospital within 2 hours after the onset of symptoms. 65% of the patients misunderstand the nature of pain. 28% of patients had pain resistance behavior. There is low awareness among the patients about the main symptoms of the disease and importance of call for an emergency in timely manner. Consequently, only a small part has been hospitalized in the first hours. Low development of the primary health care system in Georgia has negative impact on the quality of medical surveillance of the patient. It is recommended to improve institute of the family physician on the country scale, which will help to conduct continuous surveillance of the population, to increase patient awareness regarding basic symptoms of the disease.