SPRINGFIELD, Tenn., May 12 /PRNewswire/ -- The Society of Chest Pain Centers has granted the designation of Accredited Chest Pain Center to NorthCrest Medical Center, making it the 7th facility in Tennessee, the first in the Springfield metro area, and 35th in the nation to be accredited.
"We are proud that our skilled team of healthcare professionals has achieved this elite certification," states William Kenley, President/CEO of NorthCrest Medical Center. "This recognition validates that NorthCrest's emergency department offers a full-spectrum emergency cardiac care program- offering rapid diagnosis and fast track treatment before a situation worsens, often preventing a severe heart attack from occurring."
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 improve the consistency and quality of care provided to patients. The Society's accreditation process insures centers meet or exceed quality-of- care measures in acute cardiac medicine.
The Chest Pain Center at NorthCrest Medical Center has demonstrated its 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 quickly
-- 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 structure and commitment
-- Continually seeking to improve processes and procedures
-- Supporting community outreach programs that educate the public to
promptly seek medical care if they have display symptoms of a possible
heart attack
The Chest Pain Center Accreditation is just one part of the comprehensive cardiac services offered to the community by NorthCrest Medical Center. NorthCrest has been aggressive to implement improved heart services and education for the area. In fact, nearly 950 individuals have received CPR training since October -- a large majority of these are Robertson County students enrolled in the CPR4Life program.
About NorthCrest Medical Center
NorthCrest Medical Center has been providing compassionate, quality healthcare since 1956. With a history of excellence to its credit, NorthCrest has been recognized as an Accredited Chest Pain Center, as well as a Center of Healthcare Quality by the American Heart Association. In 2003, there were over 29,000 emergency room visits, 51,000 outpatient visits, 618 births, and over 800 cardiac and 420 cardiac catheterization procedures performed at NorthCrest Medical Center. Recently, NorthCrest's Medical Imaging Department became only the third facility in Tennessee to achieve accreditation for computerized tomography. NorthCrest maintains an affiliation with HCA, The Healthcare Company, as part of the TriStar Health System of hospitals in Middle Tennessee and Southern Kentucky. NorthCrest Medical Center has received the Gold Seal of Approval and is fully accredited by the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations. For further information about NorthCrest, please call 615/342-1919 or 800-242-5662.
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 on NorthCrest Medical Center, contact N. Louanne Calhoun, Media Relations at 615.384.1588 or louanne_calhoun@northcrest.com .
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 .
Society of Chest Pain CentersCONTACT: N. Louanne Calhoun, Media Relations of NorthCrest MedicalCenter, +1-615-384-1588 or louanne_calhoun@northcrest.com; or RobertWeisenburger Lipetz, Executive Director of Society of Chest Pain Centers,+1-614-274-9710, or director@scpcp.org
Web site: http://www.scpcp.org/