Transforming Health Care

“He who has health has hope; and he who has hope has everything.” –Thomas Carlyle

For many people, health issues take center stage sooner or later, complicating and limiting their lives. We’re working diligently to help those people, focusing on those dealing with heart disease and stroke — the world’s two leading causes of death.

We supported clinics in achieving sustainable improvements in care through platforms targeting blood pressure, diabetes and cholesterol; and by supporting expansion of blood pressure self-monitoring and telemedicine.

Sudden cardiac arrest — when the heart abruptly stops beating — is the leading cause of death in athletes during practices and games, but in youth sports, first responders are scarce to render aid. We created the CPR & First Aid in Youth Sports training kit to teach youth coaches and parents Hands-Only CPR, proper AED use and other emergency interventions.

In cooperation with the International Liaison Committee on Resuscitation, we published the 2019 AHA Focused Updates on Systems of Care and Continuous Quality Improvement, Adult Advanced Cardiovascular Life Support, Pediatric Basic and Advanced Life Support, and Neonatal Resuscitation. Highlights include dispatcher-assisted CPR for adults and pediatric patients, use of advanced airways during CPR, targeted temperature management and administration of oxygen to initiate ventilation support for newborns and infants.

Self-directed professional education through Resuscitation Quality Improvement and HeartCode support continued CPR competence with social distancing in mind. The programs allow providers to remain at the point of care and avoid a classroom setting.

The recent integration of Get With the Guidelines-Resuscitation and the RQI Partners Resuscitation Quality Improvement program creates a complete vision for resuscitation excellence and adherence to evidence-based standards of care.

Global thought leaders, researchers and clinicians met in Paris for the joint European Society of Cardiology Congress and World Cardiology Congress. A satellite symposium highlighted the AHA’s work to provide translated high blood pressure guidelines for training health care professionals in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia; Dakar, Senegal; and Sao Paulo, Brazil.

To change the trajectory of cardiovascular diseases, which account for 21% of the lives lost annually in China, the AHA collaborates with the Ministry of Science and Technology, 3m Chinese Society of Cardiology, the China Medical Doctors Association, the China Stroke Association and the China Nurses Association on projects related to in-hospital cardiovascular and stroke care guideline adherence and specialized nursing education.

More than 20,000 delegates from 30 countries convened in Beijing for the 30th Anniversary Great Wall International Congress of Cardiology — the largest congress of cardiology in the Asia-Pacific region. The AHA held the 5th annual awards ceremony for the Improving Care for Cardiovascular Disease in China project with the Chinese Society of Cardiology, presenting 88 awards to participating hospitals.

Training more people in CPR worldwide remains a critical priority. With training centers in over 80 countries, including the U.S., the AHA provided CPR training to more than 22 million health care providers and bystanders last year.

We are accelerating the ability of all individuals to access our Get With the Guidelines Registry Data with innovative new technology to enable clinicians and researchers to make scientific discoveries and transform health care. Get With the Guidelines is a hospital-based quality improvement initiative to improve care for heart disease and stroke patients.