Circulation
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There has been tremendous progress in reducing disability and death from ACS. But many patients still die before reaching the hospital because patients and family members fail to recognize the signs of ACS and fail to activate the EMS system. Once the patient with ACS contacts the healthcare system, providers must focus on support of cardiorespiratory function, rapid transport, and early classification of the patient based on ECG characteristics. ⋯ In the STEMI population, mechanical reperfusion with percutaenous coronary intervention improves survival and decreases major cardiovascular events compared to fibrinolysis. Patients with UA/NSTEMI (non-STEMI ACS) or nonspecific or normal ECGs require risk stratification and appropriate monitoring and therapy. Healthcare providers can improve survival rates and myocardial function of patients with ACS by providing skilled, efficient, and coordinated out-of-hospital and in-hospital care.
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Review Comparative Study
Prediction models for prolonged intensive care unit stay after cardiac surgery: systematic review and validation study.
Several models have been developed to predict prolonged stay in the intensive care unit (ICU) after cardiac surgery. However, no extensive quantitative validation of these models has yet been conducted. This study sought to identify and validate existing prediction models for prolonged ICU length of stay after cardiac surgery. ⋯ In this validation of prediction models for prolonged ICU length of stay, 2 widely implemented models (Parsonnet, EuroSCORE), although originally designed for prediction of mortality, were superior in identifying patients with prolonged ICU length of stay.