A media campaign aiming at reducing delay times and increasing the use of ambulance in AMI

To improve the prognosis in patients with acute myocardial infarction (AMI) if treatment by early instituting treatment, we initiated a media campaign during 1 year with the intention to reduce delay times and increase ambulance use in patients with acute chest pain. This article describes the outcome during 3 years after the campaign was finished. The median delay time in patients with AMI was reduced from 3 hours 0 min before the campaign to 2 hours 20 minutes during the year of the campaign (P < .001). The median delay time remained at a similar level (2 hours 20 min) during the 3 years after the campaign. Ambulance use was not affected during or after the campaign. It can be concluded that a media campaign resulted in a reduction of delay times not only during the campaign, but also during 3 years after its performance, whereas ambulance use was not affected.