A campaign to improve the timeliness of primary percutaneous coronary intervention: Door-to-Balloon: An Alliance for Quality.

OBJECTIVES: We sought to describe the rationale and methods for Door-to-Balloon (D2B): An Alliance for Quality, an international effort organized by the American College of Cardiology in partnership with the American Heart Association and 37 other organizations to rapidly translate research about how best to achieve outstanding D2B times for patients with ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) into practice.
BACKGROUND: The D2B time, the time between hospital arrival and primary percutaneous coronary intervention for patients with STEMI, is strongly associated with the likelihood of survival, yet the majority of patients are not treated within the guideline-recommended time of </=90 min. Recent research has revealed key and underused strategies that are associated with achieving faster D2B times.
METHODS: The D2B Alliance has enrolled approximately 1,000 hospitals. Its goal is to achieve a D2B time of </=90 min for at least 75% of non-transferred patients. The key strategies chosen by the D2B Alliance include having the emergency medicine physician activate the catheterization laboratory with a single call, having the team prepared within 20 to 30 min of the call; rapid data feedback; a team-based approach; and administrative support. The use of a pre-hospital electrocardiogram by emergency medical services personnel to activate the catheterization laboratory was also noted as an additional optional strategy. The project has many approaches to promote participation and adoption of effective strategies. An evaluation component is also described.
CONCLUSIONS: The design of the D2B: An Alliance for Quality, a novel campaign to improve D2B time, is described.