Healthcare professionals are invited to 'Miracle on Ice: Therapeutic Hypothermia for Cardiac Arrest Patients' September 9 and 10 in Minneapolis. The conference is devoted to the fundamentals of establishing and developing a cooling program and features Minneapolis physicians and other national experts.
“We are sharing what we've learned with physicians and hospitals who are just beginning therapeutic hypothermia programs and with those who want to expand existing programs.”
"We've developed the key elements of a successful resuscitation program: an organized network, collaborative care, established data measurements and feedback to all parties," said Michael Mooney, M.D. "We are sharing what we've learned with physicians and hospitals who are just beginning therapeutic hypothermia programs and with those who want to expand existing programs."
Dr. Mooney is an interventional cardiologist and co-director of the 'Cool It' program of the Minneapolis Heart Institute at Abbott Northwestern Hospital. The hospital is a pioneer in using cooling to treat comatose patients following cardiac arrest. From its 2006 inception, the 'Cool It' program focused on developing a collaborative model within a network.
"The cardiac arrest patient is a true example of why a large multidiscipline approach is needed to care for these critically ill patients," says Barbara Tate Unger, R.N., development director, Systems of Cardiovascular Emergency Care at the Minneapolis Heart Institute at Abbott Northwestern.
"As the patient is handed from paramedics to emergency departments to intensive care units to cardiologists to rehabilitation specialists, understanding the role that each must play is critical to great outcomes."
Thirty-three hospitals and 10 clinics follow the 'Cool It' protocol. Paramedics throughout Minnesota and emergency departments as far away as 200 miles from Minneapolis are working together to begin care at the earliest possible moment.