Emory Hospitals Earn Highest Level of Chest Pain Accreditation
Both Emory hospitals are the only accredited chest pain centers in metropolitan Atlanta to be accredited with PCI (percutaneous coronary intervention), which indicates a higher level of emergency cardiac care services. Most commonly known as coronary angioplasty, PCI is a therapeutic procedure to treat the narrowed coronary arteries of the heart found in coronary heart disease. The designation is a distinguishing attribute since PCI is now the preferred treatment for heart attack patients.
"Achieving the highest level of chest pain accreditation at both hospitals is a tremendous accomplishment for Emory Healthcare, and a great benefit to the communities and patients we serve," says John T. Fox, CEO of Emory Healthcare. "As the first chest pain center in metropolitan Atlanta to achieve this PCI accreditation further distinguishes Emory as a leader in cardiac care throughout the state of Georgia and the Southeast."
According to Samuel Shartar, RN, CEN, unit director of Emergency Services at Emory University Hospital, the detailed and involved process to attain accreditation drove interdisciplinary collaboration across both hospital campuses - leading to improved outcomes for patients.
"With the emergency department and cardiology teams working together, we have decreased our door-to-balloon times so they are consistently under 90 minutes, which is now the regulatory standard," says Shartar "These processes surrounding acute Myocardial Infarctions has been made more efficient and safe by joining our services to provide the best care possible in the region, as well as improving all the care throughout the continuum..In fact, Emory's efforts were recognized by the accrediting Society of Chest Pain Centers as being instrumental in helping that organization to create an accreditation tool and site visit that all facilities will go through in the future. We have helped to set the standard others will follow.
Key areas in which an accredited 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
- Continually seeking to improve processes and procedures
- Ensuring Chest Pain Center personnel competency and training
- Maintaining organizational structure and commitment
- Having a functional design that promotes optimal patient care
- Supporting community outreach programs that educate the public to promptly seek medical care if they display symptoms of a possible heart attack
Hospitals accredited by the SCPC have been shown to perform better in the heart attack core measures established by Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) as compared to non-accredited hospitals, according to a national study led by Michael Ross, MD, associate professor of emergency medicine and medical director for observation medicine, Emory University School of Medicine. His findings were first reported in the July 2008 issue of The American Journal of Cardiology.
"The number of accredited hospitals has steadily risen during the past five years, but no studies until now have actually compared clinical outcomes or compliance with core measures for the management of heart attacks in patients served by hospitals with accredited or non-accredited centers," says Ross.
"The bottom line, however, is if all hospitals performed core measures at levels reported by those with accredited chest pain centers, more heart attack patients would be treated with aspirin and beta blockers," he says. "Increased adherence to the core measures might also lead to more heart attack patients receiving emergency angioplasty within 120 minutes - the so-called "door to balloon" benchmark used at the time of reporting."
According to Kate Heilpern, MD, chair of the Department of Emergency Medicine in Emory's School of Medicine, hospitals fully equipped to treat heart attack patients will help prevent many unnecessary deaths. Individuals should recognize the symptoms when he or she - or someone nearby - is experiencing a heart attack, and take quick action to secure medical attention.
