News
9/7/2007 - Heart Attack: THIS COULD BE YOU!
%Name%, The Institute of Medical Emergency Preparedness wanted to share with you a post from a very popular dental website message board. What occurred to this person could happen to any of us at any time. This is disturbing but our experience shows more offices are not prepared to handle an emergency than are ready. The title of the post: I HAD A HEART ATTACK: EMERGENCY PROTOCOL!!! A healthy 54 y/o female went to another dental office to pick up some information and while she was at the front desk she had a heart attack. No previous symptoms, no warning, nothing! This lady is normal weight, good cholesterol and no history of smoking. She had a terrible pain in her chest, then become diaphoretic with pain then occuring in her mandible as well as her left arm. She asked the front desk person at this dental office to call 911 because she was having a heart attack. Front desk did nothing. Then a dental assistant came out and said the following: "put your head between your legs - your color is good so you are OK" Again, this lady ask the Dental Assistant to call 911 but nothing happened. The dental assistant returned back with a blood pressure cuff and took her reading. She said, "you're OK, your BP is only 185/125. This lady again addressed the front desk by saying, "******, I am having a heart attack, call 911." It took another patient in the lobby to call 911 for this lady!! EMS did arrive and she was transported to the hospital where she was taken to the cath lab and a stent was placed. She had a heart attack, the office did not listen to her and did not respond appropriately. Here is something she wrote in bold letters on her post: #1 if you do not have an emergency protocol in place within your office, please do that NOW. If you don't have the emergency protocol in place, please get it together this weekend and present it at your morning huddle on Monday. Make each staff member accountable for what role they are to play during an emergency and drill them on it! Our question to all of you is why can't we take a pro-active approach and make a concerted effort to inform all health care professionals of the importance of being prepared for a medical emergency and make it a priority?? Please help us with this cause and tell your colleagues about getting prepared and what steps you have taken by implementing the Emergency Response System into your practice. Instead of thinking "this won't happen to me" why don't we all take the approach that a medical emergency will occur in my office tomorrow so I had better get prepared today! Recent deaths in multiple states prove bad outcomes happen. Thank you, Institute of Medical Emergency Preparedness http://www.EmergencyActionGuide.com