ACUTE CARDIOLOGY

Acute cardiac care has changed dramatically over the past decennia: the first critical care units were established to provide monitoring for and treatment of life threatening arrhythmias in patients with acute myocardial infarction (AMI). The introduction of thrombolytic therapy, and later primary percutaneous intervention for the treatment of AMI provided challenges to the management of these patients. The fact that delay in treatment is to provides specific challenges with regard to the pre-hospital and in-hospital care processes. It would be an understatement to say that the role of information technology in health care has gone unnoticed. Quite to the contrary, it is difficult to imagine a critical care environment without computers. The effectiveness of computers as an aid in the decision making and health care delivery process however, is less apparent. Chapter 1 describes the role of clinical decision support systems in critical care and emphasizes factors for successful..

Primary location: Rotterdam Netherlands