The gift of failure: Learning to provide better cardiac care

摘要

To many, the 2-week 'SNAPSHOT' of patient care patterns across Australia and New Zealand1 will appear a picture of systems-wide failure. The results are likely to be of concern not only for the health professionals of these countries but also their general public, governments and media. Why, given the heavy weight of persuasive evidence supporting the best pharmacological and non-pharmacological interventions for acute coronary syndrome (ACS) patients, was suboptimal cardiac care so dominant in the 2 weeks studied? Across two wealthy countries with well-financed health systems, how can optimal cardiac care be provided to only three out of four patients—and be even worse for those patients who are more prone to heart disease, notably older adults?