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>>giulio+(OP)
The headline is misleading. The actual study proved that the recorded date of admission to hospital in Ireland with ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction was increased on a Sunday and Monday. Increased admissions on a Monday is not that unusual given that people often seek medical attention after the weekend but maybe more surprising is the increase on a Sunday. https://heart.bmj.com/content/109/Suppl_3/A78

>>barbeg+ue
Staffing tends to be lower on weekends AFAIK, could it be triggered by extra stress from not getting proper care during the weekend?

Another possible factor could be the fact that doctors tend to make more mistakes during operations on Fridays compared to start of week.

>>magica+Ug
Not for a STEMI specifically, it’s one of two ECG patterns even a radiologist like me knows how to read. This is a stronger argument for other diseases. Door to balloon target in STEMI is 90 minutes.

STEMI centers (this is picked up by EMS and these ambulances are redirected to appropriate centers) have 24/7 cath lab coverage and any major one will have an ER bypass even during afterhours to expedite care.

In fact more and more hospitals (and all the major ones) announce a “Code STEMI” overhead either when the ambulance is dispatched or as soon as the ECG showing ST elevations is discovered in triage/ER to activate the team and reduce door-to-balloon time.

>>halduj+yi
How common is it for a non-cardiologist know how to read ECGs? Is it something required in medical school? I heard a critique of Soviet medical training that nonspecialists didn’t know how to read them.

>>selimt+rM
If you can’t read a critical ECG you failed medical school

>>robbie+9G1
I'm not sure what you practice but that's far too dismissive. I passed med school just fine and maintain my ACLS certification as required. Am I calling an AV block or even a STEMI in real life? Absolutely not.

I maintain enough competence to know when it looks like it could be critical so I can call for help, but realistically that's happening anyway as soon as someone gets unstable as I haven't resuscitated someone in years.

I haven't looked at a real patient's ECG in probably 7 years now. If you were the patient, would you even want me to? I'd rather just do the smart and safe thing, call for help.

No subspecialist (or even specialist) can maintain competence in all areas of medicine, it's hard enough keeping up my general radiology skills. It's a good thing none of us practice in silos by definition.