New evidence suggests that if you're going to have a heart attack, you're better off scheduling it during daytime hours when hospitals will be prepared to care for you. A study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association today finds that patients treated during evening and nighttime hours typically waited 20 minutes longer for potentially life-saving angioplasties. Since more than two-thirds of heart attacks happen during nights and weekends, that obviously poses something of a problem. Study co-author Dr. Harlan Krumholz of Yale University says hospitals need to look at their staffing policies for cardiac catheterization units.
- see this story from the Louisville Channel