May 12, 2006

Cardiac care in the community

The MGH recently announced a partnership with Somerville Hospital, Cambridge Health Alliance and Cataldo Ambulance Service to enhance the quality of the cardiac care provided to residents of Somerville and the surrounding area. The Somerville Cardiac Initiative has two main components: an Ambulance Electrocardiogram (ECG) Telemetry Project and a staff training and physician education program.

Emergency medical personnel who arrive on a scene to treat a patient with cardiac symptoms often need to decide quickly whether the patient needs acute interventional care or if he or she can be appropriately treated in a community setting such as Somerville Hospital. With the telemetry project, Cataldo staff can transmit information about a patient's history, physical signs and ECG results from the field directly to the MGH to get real-time advice on the best treatment for the patient, which could include a direct admission into the MGH's cardiac catheterization laboratory if necessary.

"The ambulance telemetry project is an example of how Somerville Hospital has made good use of technology to bring the best of heart care to Somerville," says G. William Dec, Jr., MD, chief of MGH Cardiology.

Dec adds, "Working with the physicians and nurses of Somerville Hospital is a 'win-win' for both hospitals because it fosters our common goal of promoting the delivery of the highest quality medical care in the community," he says. "I and other senior members of the MGH Cardiology Division make regular teaching rounds on the medical unit; present the most recent advances in cardiac care at grand rounds and work side by side with the Somerville medical staff on projects focused on particularly challenging medical management issues related to improving the quality of care."