Temporal Trends of System of Care for STEMI: Insights from the Jakarta Cardiovascular Care Unit Network System

Aim
Guideline implementation programs are of paramount importance in optimizing acute ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) care. Assessment of performance indicators from a local STEMI network will provide knowledge of how to improve the system of care.
Methods and Results
Between 2008–2011, 1505 STEMI patients were enrolled. We compared the performance indicators before (n = 869) and after implementation (n = 636) of a local STEMI network. In 2011 (after introduction of STEMI networking) compared to 2008–2010, there were more inter-hospital referrals for STEMI patients (61% vs 56%, p<0.001), more primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) procedures (83% vs 73%, p = 0.005), and more patients reaching door-to-needle time ≤30 minutes (84.5% vs 80.2%, p<0.001). However, numbers of patients who presented very late (>12 hours after symptom onset) were similar (53% vs 51%, NS). Moreover, the numbers of patients with door-to-balloon time ≤90 minutes were similar (49.1% vs 51.3%, NS), and in-hospital mortality rates were similar (8.3% vs 6.9%, NS) in 2011 compared to 2008–2010.
Conclusion
After a local network implementation for patients with STEMI, there were significantly more inter-hospital referral cases, primary PCI procedures, and patients with a door-to-needle time ≤30 minutes, compared to the period before implementation of this network. However, numbers of patients who presented very late, the targeted door-to-balloon time and in-hospital mortality rate were similar in both periods. To improve STEMI networking based on recent guidelines, existing pre-hospital and in-hospital protocols should be improved and managed more carefully, and should be accommodated whenever possible.