HOUSTON, May 24 /PRNewswire/ -- The Methodist DeBakey Heart Center’s chest pain assessment center was recently accredited by The Society of Chest Pain Centers, making it the only accredited Chest Pain Center in the Texas Medical Center, and the 5th in the state to be accredited.
“More than five million Americans visit hospitals each year with chest pain,” said Marc Boom, M.D., Senior Vice President of the Methodist DeBakey Heart Center. “The goal of the chest pain assessment center at Methodist is 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.”
“It was quite obvious to the team that the Methodist DeBakey Heart Center was further along the curve than most hospitals reviewed,” said Scott Sororen, accreditation team review lead reviewer at The Society of Chest Pain Centers.
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 the Methodist DeBakey Heart 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 About The Methodist Hospital
The Methodist Hospital system is a nonprofit health care organization based in Houston, Texas. It has extended the world-renowned clinical and service excellence of its founding entity, The Methodist Hospital, through a network of community based hospitals and an acclaimed home health care agency. For more information, visit http://www.methodisthealth.com/ .
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 The Methodist Hospital, contact Erin Fairchild, Media Relations at (832)667-5811 or email efairchild@tmh.tmc.edu.
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 Centers
CONTACT: Erin Fairchild, Media Relations of The Methodist Hospital,+1-832-667-5811, or efairchild@tmh.tmc.edu ; or Robert Weisenburger Lipetz,Executive Director of Society of Chest Pain Centers, +1-614-274-9710, ordirector@scpcp.org
