Report of 24 Cases of Myocardial Infarction Treated at Home

• Published in: British Medical Journal Vol. 4; no. 5632; pp. 675 - 677
• Main Author: Sleet, R. A.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England British Medical Journal Publishing Group 14-12-1968; British Medical Association; BMJ Publishing Group LTD
• Subjects: Adult; Aged; Arrhythmias, Cardiac - etiology; Diseases; Dysrhythmias; Embolisms; Family Practice; Female; General practice; Home Nursing; Hospital admissions; Hospital beds; Hospitalization; Humans; Male; Middle Aged; Mortality; Myocardial infarction; Myocardial Infarction - complications; Myocardial Infarction - mortality; Myocardial Infarction - therapy; Myocardial ischemia; Pain; Papers and Originals; Pulmonary Embolism - etiology
• ISSN: 0007-1447; 1468-5833
• DOI: 10.1136/bmj.4.5632.675

During a four-year period in one general practice 50 patients suffered myocardial infarction; 24 were dead before their general practitioner saw them. Of the surviving 26, 2 were admitted to hospital for social reasons and the others were treated in their homes. One woman suffered a pulmonary embolus on the tenth day of her illness and was admitted to hospital. Three patients were found to develop arrythmias; one of these died. One other patient died, but the others made uneventful recoveries. These results compare well with those obtained by specialist units, perhaps because the advantages of such a unit are balanced by the hazards of transportation to it.