In February this year paramedics in Queensland became the first in Australia to provide potentially lifesaving drugs to heart attack victims as part of a research project funded by the Queensland Ambulance Service (QAS).
Previously in Australia only doctors were allowed to administer the clot busting drugs known as thrombolytic therapy, but between February and May, the therapy was used by paramedics to help save the lives of more than 20 patients.
The paramedics were trained to use an electrocardiogram (ECG) in order to diagnose a type of heart attack called ST-elevated myocardial infarction.
Dr. Con Aroney who is the Queensland President of the Cardiac Society of Australia and New Zealand, says speedy treatment is vital in heart attack cases and the anti-blood clotting treatment such as tenecteplase can now be given in consultation with a hospital, at the scene of the attack.
Heart specialists say the longer a clot blocks the coronary artery of the heart the less chance a patient will have of recovery but if the drug can be administered as soon as possible the artery is much more likely to be unblocked and the patient is much more likely to survive.
The Cardiac Society believes the new practices will be adopted around the country as the early results have shown that this action is extremely beneficial.
Cardiologist Dr. Aroney says the treatment is carried out in consultation with hospitals and is already being performed overseas; in France in particular it has been shown that the prompt treatment results in lives being saved.
Normally such therapy is administered in emergency departments in hospitals but if the drugs can be administered earlier, such as at the site of patient's heart attack, then lives can be saved.