The Reperfusion of Acute Myocardial Infarction in Carolina Emergency Departments (RACE) project is a collaborative effort to increase the rate and speed of coronary reperfusion through systemic changes in emergency care. The project is based upon the collaborative efforts of EMS personnel, physicians, nurses, administrators, and payers from six regions and 122 hospitals throughout North Carolina. The recommendations of this project are based upon established guidelines, published data, and the knowledge and experience of numerous individuals specializing acute myocardial infarction care. Learn more about RACE.
We are excited to announce that the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute has chosen North Carolina as the first state to test guideline implementation of emergency and community interventions for out-of-hospital cardiac arrest in a randomized trial. Based upon letters of support from over 50 emergency medical service (EMS) agencies, specific recommendations by the Institute of Medicine citing the North Carolina model, and the successful leadership and collaboration of thousands of colleagues across North Carolina in improving emergency cardiac outcomes, we were selected to conduct a 7-year trial of 4 cardiac arrest interventions involving 20,000 patients and the majority of EMS agencies in the state.
The study synopsis accompanies this letter. We invite all interested agencies to participate. We will present the study details and seek additional guidance in state-wide leadership calls. Our leadership group will also directly engage potentially interested EMS leadership with study details and the opportunity for feedback to further increase the chances of a successful trial.
If we can successfully implement and execute this trial, the findings have great potential to be incorporated into national guidelines and bring additional importance and resources to front-line emergency care agencies. As with all of our state-wide endeavors, our primary focus will remain on saving lives of our neighbors with well-considered, pre-specified coordinated interventions.
Please contact Lisa Monk at lisa.monk@duke.edu or 919-451-6356 or James Jollis at james.jollis@duke.edu or 919-805-6077 for further information.
