NASHVILLE, Tenn., June 4 /PRNewswire/ -- The Society of Chest Pain Centers has granted the designation of Accredited Chest Pain Center to three hospitals of Saint Thomas Health Services. Baptist and Saint Thomas Hospitals in Nashville, and Middle Tennessee Medical Center in Murfreesboro are among only 43 hospitals in the U.S. to be accredited.
“The recognition by the Society of Chest Pain Centers is a validation of the high quality of heart care provided by our hospitals,” said Dr. E. Dale Batchelor, Chief Physician Executive of Saint Thomas Health Services. “Saint Thomas Hospital is the recognized leader in heart care in Middle Tennessee and Baptist Hospital pioneered the concept of a designated chest pain center in our region. This accreditation is one more example of the benefits of our hospitals coming together as a combined health ministry. Our patients benefit from the strengths of all of our hospitals. In this situation, the emergent heart patient is assured of consistency and quality in treating chest pain and acute heart problems.”
Heart attacks are the leading cause of death in the United States, with 600,000 dying annually of heart disease. More than five million Americans visit hospitals each year with chest pain. The goal of the Society of Chest Pain Centers is to significantly reduce the mortality rate of these patients by teaching the public to recognize and react to the early symptoms of a possible heart attack, reduce the time that it takes to receive treatment, and increase the accuracy and effectiveness of treatment.
The Chest Pain Center’s protocol driven and systematic approach to patient management allows physicians to reduce time to treatment during the critical early stages of a heart attack, when treatments are most effective, and to better monitor patients when it is not clear whether they are having a coronary event. Such observation helps ensure that a patient is neither sent home too early nor needlessly admitted.
With the rise of Chest Pain Centers came the need to establish standards designed to monitor the consistency and quality of care provided to patients. The Society’s accreditation process insures that centers meet or exceed quality-of-care measures in acute cardiac medicine.
“As the leader in cardiac care, we know that prompt and expert care saves hearts and lives,” says Batchelor. “The ER Medical Directors and clinical staff have implemented the best practices in evaluating cardiac distress and favorably impressed the society surveyors with our extensive quality monitoring and results. An example of this commitment is the Saint Thomas Hospital initiative that has established a track record of ‘door to open artery in less than 90 minutes.’”
The Chest Pain Centers of Saint Thomas Health Services have demonstrated expertise and commitment to quality patient care by meeting or exceeding a wide set of stringent criteria and completing on-site evaluations by a review team from the Society of Chest Pain Centers. Key areas in which a Chest Pain Center must demonstrate expertise include:
* Integrating the emergency department with the local emergency medical system * Assessing, diagnosing, and treating patients in a prompt and systematic manner * Effectively treating patients with low risk for acute coronary syndrome and no assignable cause for their symptoms * Having a functional design that promotes optimal patient care * Ensuring Chest Pain Center personnel competency and training * Maintaining organizational commitment and support * Continually seeking to improve processes and procedures * Supporting community outreach programs that educate the public to promptly seek medical care if they display symptoms of a possible heart attack About Saint Thomas Health Services
Saint Thomas Health Services is a faith-based ministry with 10,000 associates serving Middle Tennessee. Saint Thomas Health Services consists of five hospitals: Baptist and Saint Thomas Hospitals in Nashville, Middle Tennessee Medical Center in Murfreesboro, Baptist Hickman Community Hospital in Centerville and Baptist DeKalb Hospital in Smithville. It is a member of Ascension Health, a Catholic organization that is the largest not-for-profit health system in the United States.
About the Society of Chest Pain Centers
The Society of Chest Pain Centers (SCPC) is an international professional society focused on improving care for patients with acute coronary syndromes and related maladies. The Society is committed to improving the quality of patient care through protocol-based medicine and the adoption of process improvement science to healthcare. SCPC is headquartered in Columbus, Ohio. For more information, visit http://www.scpcp.org/ .
For more information about Saint Thomas Health Services, please contact Rebecca Climer, VP of Marketing and Strategy at 615-284-6869, or rclimer@stthomas.org.
For more information on the Society of Chest Pain Centers, please contact Robert Weisenburger Lipetz, Executive Director at (614) 274-9710 or director@scpcp.org.
The Society of Chest Pain Centers
CONTACT: Rebecca Climer, VP of Marketing and Strategy of Saint ThomasHealth Services, +1-615-284-6869, or rclimer@stthomas.org ; or RobertWeisenburger Lipetz, Executive Director of Society of Chest Pain Centers,+1-614-274-9710 or director@scpcp.org