Emergency medicine journal : EMJ
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Randomized Controlled Trial Clinical Trial
Limited benefits of ambulance telemetry in delivering early thrombolysis: a randomised controlled trial.
To evaluate the potential of a continuous telemetry system linking rural ambulances to a coronary care unit to reduce call to thrombolysis times. ⋯ Continuous telemetry systems may significantly reduce call to treatment times for patients recommended for pre-hospital thrombolysis in a rural setting. However, this benefit must be balanced against the very small proportion of eligible patients identified as suitable for pre-hospital thrombolysis. This limitation may be due to communications problems, the criteria used to identify eligible patients, or the seniority of physicians tasked with making treatment decisions.