The graveyard shift is the worst time to call code blue, a new study finds. Patients who go into cardiac arrest while in the hospital are more likely to die if it happens after 11 p.m., when staffing may be lower or patients are watched less closely.

The ER is the only place that there was no difference in death rates. Among day shifts in all other units hospital wide the success rate of patients that cardiac arrested was 20% and the night shift rate was 15%. Either way it is not real good odds but I would take the first over the latter.

Why the difference? I would suppose most would blame it on fatigue and lower staff numbers. Interesting enough, while weekends had lower success rated then weekdays they were not nearly as pronounced as night versus day.

via Houston Chronicle

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Working the nightshift… stay on your toes for that code blue!

Television star Kelsey Grammer is back in hospital with an irregular heartbeat, two months after suffering a heart attack the actor has said nearly killed him.

Kelsey presented to the hospital feeling faint and tired. Most likely his irregular heart beat is caused by his medication he is taking to help with his heart muscle and post MI effects. Good luck to him- hope he is back on his feet soon!

via Comcast 

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Kelsey Grammer back in the hospital with irregular heartbeat

Optimism is good for heart health, at least among men, a new study shows. University of Rochester Medical Center researcher Robert Gramling, M.D., D.Sc., found that men who believed they were at lower-than-average risk for cardiovascular disease actually experienced a three times lower incidence of death from heart attacks and strokes.

The same results were not found among women but the study was started in 1990- which was a time before heart disease became so prevalent among women. There just wasn’t as many women in the study to begin with.

Perhaps we should concentrate on the fact that we have so many tools to help prevent a heart attack instead of worrying ourselves sick over if we will actually fall victim to one.

via Science Daily 

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Optimism today keeps a heart attack away…

Sources say Kelsey was swimming on the beach in Kona when he had the attack and that his heart definitely stopped for a few seconds. The Cheers star had to be airlifted by helicopter from Kona to Honolulu for tests and treatment.

Hopefully he will bounce right back. Get well… I loved Cheers!!!!!!

via Perez Hilton

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Kelsey Grammer, yes Cheers and Frasier, suffered a heart attack…

You or a loved one can become more involved in your care by reviewing treatment options, possible side effects, success rates and questions to ask your healthcare provider. You also have access to medical journal articles and research studies written in an easy-to-understand format.

It is a personal ‘game plan’ and easy to understand info that pertains to your unique situation and treatment plan. It only takes about 20 minutes to really get going. Great tool- if anyone uses it or gives it a try please let me know.

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Personalized heart plan from the AHA

“Our study of sexually active postmenopausal women found dissatisfaction with sexual activity was not predictive of incident cardiovascular disease which may be due to physiological differences in sexual functioning between men and women, or to difficulty measuring sexual dysfunction in women,” added McCall-Hosenfeld.

This is a good thing I suppose. At least the women will feel safe in knowing that their displeasure with sex will not lead to a heart attack. But they will also have to get to the root of their issue, which is sometimes very frustrating.

via SD 

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decreased sexual satisfaction in women is not clearly associated with cardiovascular disease

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Treatment Plan And Plavix

Each patient was hooked up to a heart monitor while they rode the bike, elliptical or walked the treadmill. Most patient’s participated in lifting low amounts of weight. And every single rehab patient took a mandatory diet and nutrition class taught by a registered dietitian.

Another plus about the programs that I experienced first hand was the importance of family and friend involvement. It takes a village…

I am always a bit shocked when I find out that post MI and stent patients choose not to attend these types of rehab classes. I usually have just one word… why? Well, this morning as I was searching through the pages of cardiac news, I came upon an article that was written as an informative personal reflection on cardiac rehab programs.

Mr. Lamb, 49 and a post MI patient times 2 made perfect sense…

“We went for the session to a local nursing home and the first thing they did was to offer us coffee and biscuits, which I thought was strange considering I had just had a heart attack and was supposed to be watching my weight.” David said the nurse then started asking him a series of questions, but excluded his wife from the conversation, despite the fact that she had been encouraged to attend. He said the nurse also appeared not to have his medical files and got him to do physical tests that he had already completed and surpassed in hospital.

I might be turned off by this type of experience as well. And even though research is certainly on the side of partaking in the type of rehab program, how can you participate if you feel you are gaining nothing from it, like it is a waist of time? Does there need to be a more universal type of program?

In this particular case the British Heart Foundation launched a program to help facilitate rehab programs as they are effective to say the least…

Research has shown that patients, like David, attending cardiac rehabilitation improve their chances of surviving in the first five years by more than a quarter, at a cost to the NHS of just £600 per patient.

What do you think is the answer? How can we assure that patients get exactly what they need? How was your cardiac rehab experience?

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Cardiac Rehab Programs Not Being Utilized