About half calling 911 for a heart attack are hospitalized, yet only 20 percent actually have heart attacks.
Robert DeBusk, MD
“Patients don’t know when to go to the ER. They agonize, they wait. Once the patient does go to the ER, there’s a high rate of unnecessary hospitalization.”
Why not ask a few questions? Ask callers to identify symptoms of chest pain, shortness of breath, dizziness, weakness and visual changes. It can be administered over the telephone. For example, a patient reporting ischemic chest pain that occurs at rest, lasts 20 or more minutes and is still present at the time of the patient’s report, would be categorized as ‘high risk’.