Monday, August 25, 2008
Nursing student’s proposal results in $100,000 grant
to improve care for heart-attack victims
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Individuals experiencing heart attacks in the greater Louisville, Kentucky, area can now expect timesaving decisions about their hospital care to be made while they are in the ambulance on their way to the emergency room. Karen Higdon, a graduate nursing student at the University of Southern Indiana, submitted a grant proposal which she wrote as a class assignment to Norton Healthcare Community Trust Fund. The proposal resulted in a $100,000 grant to equip 83 ambulances operated by Louisville Metro Emergency Medical Services with software to transmit electrocardiograph test results to Norton Audubon Hospital, Norton Hospital, and Kosair Children’s Hospital for review and assessment. The program is designed to provide more immediate treatment and decrease the length of hospital stay for adult patients. It also will decrease the time physicians need to assess pediatric patients. When Higdon prepared the grant proposal earlier this year, she was nurse manager for the transitional care unit at Norton Audubon Hospital. She worked with Jane Carmody, chief nursing officer of Norton Audubon, and Michael Esposito, Norton system vice president for cardiovascular and pulmonary services, to identify the need. “Although EMS staff previously had been able to perform 12-lead electrocardiographs on their patients en route to the hospital, emergency department personnel did not see those test results until the ambulance arrived,” Esposito said. “This is valuable time lost for a heart attack victim. With the new technology, hospital personnel can be ready and waiting for the patients.” In writing the grant proposal, Higdon wanted to address an issue that would help the general population and accomplish an objective for her employer. Her research indicated that cardiovascular disease claims more lives each year in the United State that the next five most common causes. “Heart disease is also the leading cause of death in Kentucky,” she wrote in the proposal. “In 2004, cardiovascular disease accounted for 11 percent of all of Kentucky’s hospitalizations.” Higdon said that one third of all patients with acute coronary syndrome have complete blockage of a coronary artery. An electrocardiograph (ECG) is critical in diagnosing these patients. The term STEMI (ST elevation myocardial infarction) refers to a specific ECG pattern that patients with completely blocked arteries may exhibit. Studies show these patients should begin treatment in the hospital catheterization lab within 90 minutes of arrival in the emergency department. The new technology allows Norton personnel to identify STEMI patients before they arrive at the hospital and begin treatment immediately. Early results in the pilot program achieved “door-to balloon” times of less than 60 minutes. The door-to-balloon time refers to a measurement beginning with the patient's arrival in the emergency department and ending when a catheter guide wire reaches the blockage. The grant provides for software, training, and support for five years. “I was excited to be involved in this because it has the possibility to help so many people,” Higdon said. Higdon recently was named director of patient care services at Norton Hospital in downtown Louisville. She will complete a Master of Science in Nursing degree in the nursing management and leadership track in December. She earned an undergraduate degree in nursing at Western Kentucky University in 1985. Lee Ann Blue, adjunct faculty member for the USI nursing program, directed the course for which Higdon wrote the grant. Blue is chief nursing officer for Wishard Health Services in Indianapolis. The USI College of Nursing and Health Professions offers all courses in the M.S.N. program through distance technologies. Betty Vawter News and Information Services bvawter@usi.edu |
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