When someone arrives in the Emergency Department (ED) with signs of a heart attack, every second matters. Yet confirming whether a heart attack is actually occurring can take precious time. That’s why MUSC Health Florence Medical Center has become the first hospital in South Carolina to use a new test that helps doctors to detect heart attacks faster and more accurately.
“When I came to the emergency room, I was thinking that whatever test was going to be given, it was going to be something very difficult. I thought it was going to be something that was going to hurt. But once it was quickly performed, it was very simple and easy,” said MUSC Health Florence Medical Center patient Deshantell Canteen.
This new test, the Abbott i-STAT High-sensitivity Troponin I Cartridge (hs-TnI), measures very small amounts of cardiac troponin I in the blood. Cardiac troponin is a protein found only in the heart, and elevated levels can signal damage to heart muscle. The test runs on Abbott’s portable i-STAT 1 instrument, providing lab-quality results in approximately 15 minutes, right at the patient’s bedside, which is much faster than previous testing that would take up to an hour for results.Because the test can be performed at the bedside, it eliminates the need to send samples to the laboratory, helping emergency teams to act more quickly when every second counts. Canteen was one of the first patients in the MUSC Health Florence Medical Center ED to receive this test when she experienced possible symptoms of a heart attack. Fortunately, the Troponin device quickly informed her care team that she was not having a heart attack.
“Once the doctors performed it and it was like it was over within minutes, I was relieved,” said Canteen. “It was so simple. Then I started thinking, ‘Wow! How can something that simple give such accurate results?’ I didn't feel overwhelmed, and I wasn't scared. I felt good about it.”
Emergency medicine physician Bradley Russell, M.D., has been with MUSC Health Florence Medical Center for over 20 years. He believes this device will save more lives than ever before in their ED, calling it a “once in a decade type of change” within a health care system.
“I think it just shows that MUSC as an organization is committed to innovation and improving the quality of care and how it's delivered to the public. We're thankful that the Florence community and the Pee Dee region were chosen to be the first to use this device,” said Russell. “I think it makes us stand out in the community as a leader in technology and service to patients. It's exciting to be a part of a large organization that is just continually on the bleeding edge of technology and patient care.”
Canteen continued not only to emphasize the efficiency of the test but the care she received. The Troponin device may have given her accurate results quickly, but the care team members were the ones that got her home.
“What made it easy was the nurses and the doctors. Everybody was so caring. That made a big difference to me. It wasn’t just the instrument itself, but the staff also made it comfortable as well,” said Canteen.
Russell praises the MUSC Health Florence Medical Center for continuing to lead the way in adopting advanced technology that supports its mission to provide the highest-quality care for the surrounding Pee Dee region.
