Mission first in WNC to receive Chest Pain Center accreditation
Mission Hospital has received full accreditation as a Chest Pain Center by The Society of Chest Pain Centers. Only one percent of all hospitals in the United States have this designation.
Mission is the only Western North Carolina hospital to receive the accreditation. Other accredited hospitals in North Carolina include Rex Hospital in Raleigh, Forsyth Medical Center in Winston-Salem, Moses H. Cone Memorial Hospital in Greensboro, Pitt County Memorial Hospital in Greenville, Presbyterian Hospital in Charlotte, Huntersville and Matthews, Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center in Winston-Salem, and Carolinas Medical Center in Charlotte and Monroe.
What is a Chest Pain Center?
A Chest Pain Center is the sum of the processes of care for Acute Coronary Syndrome (ACS) patients, which starts from the time the patient activates EMS until that patient is discharged from the hospital. A Chest Pain Center encompasses the entire hospital, much like a trauma center.
As a Level II Trauma Center, the accreditation indicates Mission Hospital has demonstrated that it is a center of excellence for cardiac care in the region, according to William Hathaway, MD, Service Line Leader for Heart Services.
"Being designated as an accredited Chest Pain Center establishes Mission Hospital as a premier hospital for acute cardiac care in this area. This designation communicates that the hospital offers a full-spectrum emergency cardiac care program, including rapid diagnosis and fast track treatment, which may prevent a severe heart attack from occurring," says Dr. Hathaway.
To achieve this accreditation, Mission 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 display symptoms of a possible heart attack
"The accreditation is not possible without multidisciplinary cooperation and coordination between emergency medical services, emergency medicine, cardiology, internal medicine and hospital administration," says Dr. Hathaway.
"The multidisciplinary care pathways, quality assurance processes and cardiac programs must be firmly in place and continually monitored before chest pain center accreditation can be granted. The entire institution is responsible for this accreditation and should feel proud."
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.
