Can Florida become the first state in the United States to take heart disease out of first place? The Maryland versus Florida challenge.

The high morbidity and mortality from acute myocardial infarctions (AMI) prompted Dr. Raymond Bahr to challenge the author as to whether Maryland or Florida could be the safest state in which to have an AMI. He extended this competition spirit to a second debate as to which state would first take heart disease out of first place as the cause of death. Such a goal appeared laudable. But is it? Would AIDS, tuberculosis, or widespread cancer be a better way to die? Thinking not, Florida cardiologists established a goal to become the safest state, with the nation's largest percent of physiologically active centenarians, who would eventually die peacefully, even if due to a heart attack.

The evolution of today's hospital emergency departments--current problems and challenges.

The announcement of the National Heart Attack Alert Program by the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute in June of 1991 prompted leaders of the Florida Chapter of the American College of Cardiology to develop a statewide program to reduce the morbidity and mortality from acute myocardial infarctions within Florida. It became apparent that the success of such a program would require the prompt institution of thrombolytic agent or other revascularization procedures in appropriate patients. No longer could the decision regarding institution of therapy await discussion by telephone and/or the arrival at the emergency department (ED) of the patient's primary care physician or cardiologist. Efforts to establish appropriate protocols for therapy revealed that many of the 25,000 or more physicians currently staffing the 5,600 or so EDs in this country were moonlighting residents or practitioners from a variety of specialties or subspecialties with limited or no formal EM training. Furthermore, it was learned that there were in the entire country only about 800 postgraduate, year-one Council for Graduate Medical Education accredited training positions. There were only 21 such training positions in the entire state of Florida. The reasons for these deficiencies are discussed and a challenge to correct this person power crisis is issued, not principally to the leadership of EM, but to the entire medical profession.

Early management of acute myocardial ischemic events. Recommendations. Quality of Patient Care Committee, Florida Chapter, American College of Cardiology.

A Consensus Development Conference conducted by the Quality of Patient Care Committee, Florida Chapter, American College of Cardiology, for the Early Management of Acute Myocardial Ischemic Events in Florida was held August 26-28, 1994, at St. Joseph's Heart Institute, Tampa. Twenty recommendations were proposed to improve the management of patients with these conditions and to reduce mortality and long-term morbidity from coronary heart disease.

Early management of acute myocardial ischemic events. Introduction.

Current knowledge, skill and/or material are sufficient to significantly reduce the morbidity and mortality from acute myocardial ischemic events. Unfortunately, morbidity and mortality continue in Florida and most other states at a high level. The Florida Chapter of the American College of Cardiology, therefore, elected to bring together representatives from 13 medical and/or paramedical organizations to develop a consensus as to how to effectively utilize the existing knowledge, etc., to hopefully make Florida the safest state in America in which to have an acute myocardial infarction. This presentation, the first of five, describes how a consensus was developed to establish guidelines for proper patient identification and bystander-initiated actions, prehospital actions by physicians and health-care providers, and actions by physicians and health-care professionals in hospital emergency departments. A careful review follows of the existing knowledge of each of these topics with recommendations specifically for Florida. Finally, the last segment summarizes the conclusions and recommendations proposed by representatives attending the conference in August 1994.

Ethics in cardiovascular medicine. Task Force II: The relation of cardiovascular specialists to patients, other physicians and physician-owned organizations.

1. The American College of Cardiology acknowledges the continuum of changing societal, medical and economic perspectives affecting traditional medical ethics. Primacy of patient responsibility remains paramount to the cardiovascular specialist who at the same time should participate in the development of broader societal programs. 2. Medical decisions should be freely and jointly formulated by the patient and the cardiovascular specialist with appropriate sensitivity to such matters as mental competence, pertinent medical information and standards of care, sufficient time for contemplation, informed consent, patient right of refusal, physician right to refuse to provide inappropriate care and the right of patient, physician or third party payer to seek consultation or additional opinions. 3. The cardiovascular specialist should make a special effort to clarify and document patient preferences regarding end-of-life treatment through some form of advance directive. 4. The cardiovascular specialist bears a moral obligation to provide medical care to any patient who is HIV positive or has AIDS. 5. A conflict of interest occurs when a cardiovascular specialist places personal or financial interest ahead of the welfare and health of a patient. Professional accountability should be established through local or regional peer review. 6. The American College of Cardiology encourages and supports a renewed dedication to the principles of medical ethics, particularly in the field of cardiovascular disease. Cardiovascular specialists are encouraged to participate in the promulgation of medical ethics by teaching and by example, individually and with others.

Risk factors for cardiovascular disease and death: a clinical perspective.

Coronary artery disease has been demonstrated to conform to the principles of an epidemic disease. Therefore, the incidence of the occurrence of the disease is dependent in large part on "disturbances of human culture." These primarily include a cholesterol-rich diet, obesity, cigarette smoking, elevated blood pressure and sedentary life-style. It is gratifying that during the last quarter of a century, large segments of society in the United States have modified many of their adverse patterns of living. As a result, there has been a striking decline in both the incidence of the diagnosis of coronary artery disease and the frequency of premature death due to the disease process. Sudden cardiac death is frequently an unexpected first clinical manifestation of coronary artery disease and, despite heroic efforts, treatment of sudden death victims is frequently unsuccessful. Furthermore, progression of coronary artery disease, even in patients who present with angina pectoris or acute myocardial infarction, is unpredictable. Coronary arteriography, the "gold standard" used for evaluation, gives insight primarily into anatomy and ventricular function (under experimental conditions) existing at a given instant in time. Which lesions are serious and likely to progress are usually unknown, even to the most experienced angiographer. Therefore, surgical and catheter-directed therapeutic approaches are at best only "shotgun" or partial techniques. For these reasons, the principal and continuing therapeutic efforts to reduce the occurrence and control the ravages of coronary artery disease should be directed toward prevention. Such efforts should begin in early childhood and become a lifelong practice, one that all physicians, including the most procedure-dominated specialists, should personally adopt and teach.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Education of the patient with cardiac disease in the twenty-first century: an overview.

The current status of education, behavioral change, and use of technology identifies a need for professionals who can develop interactive educational programs and apply existing techniques in a cost-effective manner. The general public, including patients with cardiac disease, are sophisticated consumers of information technology and demand quality production. The challenge is to train specialists to produce educational programs, to instruct health professionals in use of these programs, to deliver appropriate messages, to teach needed skills to patients with cardiac disease, and to evaluate the outcomes. Unless incentives to restore cardiac patients to an optimal functional status with few recurrences and complications are as tangible as are incentives for treating acute cardiac illnesses, the appropriate use of technology to educate patients with heart disease is unlikely to develop. However, the trend to increased ambulatory care under prospective payment systems makes it likely that technology will be applied to improve the efficiency in maintaining health and preventing acute illness. The potential benefits to the nation are substantial.

The stabilizing and unstabilizing influences of neurogenic and vascular activities of the heart as related to sudden cardiac death.

Despite the frequency with which sudden cardiac death occurs in affluent societies, little is known about the precise mechanisms by which it is caused. Practically nothing is known about why sudden cardiac death occurs in one but not another person. It is difficult to escape the conclusion that in many instances, the final events occur almost by chance. Therefore, it would appear that every effort should be made by the physician to assist in preventing the changes, that is, cardiomegaly and myocardial ischemia, that appear to be potential markers of sudden cardiac death in many persons. Attention should be directed toward identifying and facilitating stabilizing neurogenic and vascular activities and identifying, controlling and reversing unstabilizing influences likely to foster sudden cardiac death. In the absence of a more complete knowledge of precise mechanisms, the efforts of the physician should be directed toward behavior modifications that appear to reduce the clinical manifestations of coronary heart disease which contribute to the development of cardiomegaly and myocardial ischemia.