Improving door to needle times with nurse initiated thrombolysis

Objective - To evaluate the effect of nurse initiated thrombolysis on door to needle time (the interval between arriving at the hospital and starting thrombolytic treatment) in patients with acute myocardial infarction. Design - Comparison of door to needle times before and after the employment of nurses trained and approved to initiate thrombolysis without prescripti on by a doctor but with a protocol for rapid triage of patients with chest pain. Setting - A district general hospital. Subjects - All patients admitted with suspected myocardial infarction betwe en April 1995 and March 1999. Main outcome measures - Speed (door to needle time) and appropriateness of administration of thrombolytic drugs to patients with acute myocardial infa rction who gave a characteristic history and had appropriate criteria on th e admission EGG. Results - During seven periods (each of four months) before the introductio n of nurse initiated thrombolysis and a new chest pain triage protocol, the median door to needle time varied from 50-58 minutes. In four periods (eac h of 4-6 months) following the introduction of the changes, the median door to needle time was 25-30 minutes. The improvement was significant (p < 0.0 01). Nurses trained to initiate thrombolysis currently provide cover for 66 % of the time. Median door to needle time for nurses was 15 minutes. Median door to needle time for junior doctors improved to 35 minutes. The median door to needle times when nurses initiated thrombolysis was significantly s horter than when doctors did so (p < 0.001). There have been no inappropria te management decisions by nurses approved to initiate thrombolysis. Conclusions - The use of nurse initiated thrombolysis has resulted in a cli nically important reduction in the time taken for thrombolysis to be starte d in patients with acute myocardial infarction.