Emergency Infarction Treatment

Abstract

<h3>To the Editor.—</h3> Your editorial, "Early to Bed and Early to Rise" (225:1527, 1973), unwittingly perpetuates the myth that emergencies are best handled if the patient reaches the hospital as quickly as possible. The editorial reads ... the patient is urged to call an ambulance—a mobile coronary care unit, if available—in order to reach the hospital at the earliest possible moment. This statement is amplified in the next sentence that reads "this may mean the difference between life and death." We recently completed a study of the factors entering into a patient's decision to come to a hospital emergency department. Factors influencing the type of conveyance used showed that fewer than 2% of patients traveling by ambulance had any wish or desire for the potentially skilled help available aboard the ambulance. Rather, the reasons for using ambulances involved needs for additional manpower, "official policy," and the apparent need for speed in