A new groundbreaking app is saving heart attack and stroke patients in western Victoria.
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Stephen Alexander was lying awake in bed watching television when he realised something was very wrong.
“I started to feel pretty ordinary with all the things you hear about a heart attack – radiating pain, tightness and all that,” he said.
Living on his own, he called 000 and unwittingly became one of the first cases of a trial using a new app to treat heart attack and stroke patients.
Proving the value of the Pulsara app, which shares a patient’s information and observations between paramedics, emergency room doctors and specialists at Ballarat Base Hospital, Mr Alexander was wheeled from the ambulance, through emergency, and straight in to the cardiac theatre when he arrived.
“What I do remember is that the ambos said to me at some stage that there’s going to be a cast of thousands waiting for you at hospital, so don’t be alarmed,” he said.
“And that’s exactly what I found. There were a heap of people and when I arrived they wheeled me straight through emergency in to theatre and handed me over there.”
One of Mr Alexander’s arteries was found to be 80 per cent blocked and an angioplasty was carried out to open up the blockage. It also identified some other smaller narrowings, which Mr Alexander hopes to manage with medication and lifestyle changes.
Since the Pulsara trial began on May 29, the treatment of at least six heart attack and 10 stroke cases has been fast-tracked at hospital.
The app shares a patient’s personal details, condition, diagnostic tests including heart ECG readings, and treatment given between paramedics and hospital staff.
Information and updates on treatment and condition are instantly pushed through to everyone involved in the patient’s care.
BHS Pulsara project coordinator Debra Pearce said it had been “an exciting first few weeks” of the trial, just the second to take place outside of the United States of America.
“Staff from Ambulance Victoria and BHS remain very enthusiastic and have embraced the new groundbreaking Pulsara medical app, using many of its functions to communicate effectively,” she said.
“Images have been securely sent and chat functions have been used so that treating specialists have been able to prepare for the event prior to the patients arrival at hospital.”
Mr Alexander spent three days in Ballarat Base Hospital before returning to his Gordon home to recover from the ordeal.