Seconds count when doctors are dealing with a heart attack patient.
Every 20 seconds, someone in the United States has a heart attack, and a heart-attack death occurs about every minute. About 50 percent of those deaths occur within one hour of the hearth attack, but outside a hospital.
A system called Lifenet that is proving critical to patients and doctors is being used in the emergency room of Doctor's Hospital in Dallas.
Paramedics in the field responding to a heart-attack patient can run an electrocardiogram and send the information directly to staff at the hospital. By the time the patient arrives at the hospital and paramedics roll through the doors, doctors and nurses are already prepared to treat the patient.
"They've already got everything open -- the trays and ready to drape and prep the patient, and the cardiologist is scrubbing in," said Dr. Bob Hillert, head of cardiology at Doctor's Hospital.
The information available for doctors and nurses to see on their computers, and cardiologists get the EKG sent straight to their iPhones.
"Mentally, we can start preparing what we need to do and what equipment we're going to need," cardiologist Dr. Robert Brockie said.
The goal is to cut treatment time down by about 20 minutes.
Dallas Fire-Rescue uses Lifenet about 200 times per month throughout the city. About a dozen Dallas hospitals participate in the Lifenet system.
