Cellular ECG transmissions save lives.

W hen a person suffers a heart attack, the best clinical outcomes are achieved when he or she is treated within two hours of the onset of acute symptoms. Yeatment benefits decline as further time elapses. Health care providers have instituted various communications and medical strategies to reduce the time between onset and treatment. Among these strategies arc patient education initiatives, specific clinical protocol development for emergency departments (EDs), and the trajismission of preadmission electrocardiogram (ECG) tracings from emergency medical services (EMS) vehicles to EDs.