Aspirin at Arrival

Why is this important?

The heart is a muscle that gets oxygen through blood vessels. Sometimes blood clots can block these blood vessels and the heart can’t get enough oxygen. This can cause a heart attack. Chewing an aspirin as soon as heart attack symptoms begin may help reduce the severity of the attack. This chart shows the percent of heart attack patients who were given (or took) aspirin within 24 hours of arrival at the hospital.

Higher percentages are better.

Information About Heart Attack Care

A heart attack (also called acute myocardial infarction) occurs when the arteries leading to the heart become blocked and the blood supply is slowed or stopped. When the heart muscle can’t get the oxygen and nutrients it needs, the part of the heart tissue that is affected may die.

The symptoms of a heart attack can include:

• Chest pain (often described as a crushing, squeezing or burning pain in the center of the chest that may radiate to the arm or jaw)
• Shortness of breath
• Dizziness or extreme weakness
• Sweating
• Nausea
• Cold or clammy skin
• Gray skin tone or ill appearance

Sometimes there may be no symptoms of a heart attack, especially if you have diabetes. While men typically experience chest pain, women sometimes experience different symptoms, particularly shortness of breath, nausea/vomiting, and back or jaw pain.

This data, based primarily on data collected by Baxter Regional Medical Center hospital from April 2007 through March 2008, was released publicly on December 18, 2008.