Assessment of the safety and effectiveness of emergency department STEMI bypass by defibrillation-only emergency medical technicians/primary care paramedics.

Introduction: The American Heart Association (AHA) suggests emergency medical service (EMS) providers transporting ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) patients to a percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) center require advanced life support (ALS) skills.

Objectives: To evaluate the potential safety and time savings effectiveness of defibrillation-only emergency medical technician/primary care paramedic (EMT-D/PCP) EMS transport to a PCI center in a system where only emergency medical technician-paramedics/advanced care paramedics (EMT-Ps/ACPs) are authorized to bypass non-PCI hospitals.

Methods: We reviewed 89 consecutive patients meeting STEMI criteria transported by EMT-Ds/PCPs per protocol by one of three paths: 1) closest non-PCI center emergency department (ED) with secondary transfer by EMT-Ps/ACPs to a PCI lab, 2) rendezvous with EMT-Ps/ACPs and diversion to a PCI lab, and 3) PCI center ED if it was closest.