GRMC Achieves National Chest Pain Accreditation

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March 31, 2011—Gadsden Regional Medical Center has earned Chest Pain Accreditation from the Society of Chest Pain Centers – a national organization that gauges the efforts health care facilities make in caring for patients with chest pain.

The goal of the society is simple: eliminating heart disease as the number one cause of deaths worldwide. Hospitals that receive SCPC accreditation have achieved a higher level of expertise in dealing with patients who show symptoms of a heart attack, according to a society press release.

“I am proud of the teamwork demonstrated by the GRMC Medical Staff, staff members, and emergency response personnel to achieve this accreditation,” CEO Stephen Pennington said. “SCPC conducts a rigorous evaluation of the process for treating chest pain – from our collaboration with emergency medical service personnel to treatment in the emergency room and cath lab.

“The national standard for getting a patient from the door to the cath lab is 90 minutes,” Pennington said. “At GRMC, the average time is 78 minutes and we are constantly working to decrease that time.”

During the time between arrival at the hospital and arrival at the heart cath lab, GRMC patients receive standardized diagnostic and treatment programs to efficiently and effectively evaluate their condition – one of criteria the SCPC looks at when considering facilities for accreditation.

According to the SCPC, accreditation means a facility has met strict criteria aimed at:

• Reducing the time from onset of symptoms to diagnosis and treatment;
• Treating patients more quickly during a critical window of time to preserve the integrity of the heart muscle;
• And monitoring patients when it is not certain they are having a heart attack to ensure they are not sent home to quickly or admitted needlessly to the hospital.

“The Gadsden Community can be comforted with knowing that when they come to GRMC with a heart attack,” said GRMC Emergency Room Medical Director Dr. Djiby Diop, “they will receive the best care possible.”

Starting from the ER, chest pain patients are given a very thorough treatment process which leads to the cath lab where blockages are opened promptly by a skilled cardiologist, in order to restore blood flow treatment.  All of the treatment and diagnosis are provided by a group of well-trained, emergency care specialists like Dr. Diop, who has a special interest in heart attack and has written articles on heart attack and lectured across the country on the topic. 

Pennington said GRMC received Chest Pain Accreditation with PCI – Percutaneous Coronary Intervention -- or coronary angioplasty. “That means when a patient comes to GRMC with chest pain, our experienced doctors and technicians can diagnose and treat narrowed arteries using angioplasty, opening arteries with a balloon procedure, if the patient’s condition warrants it.

“There’s no need to send a patient to another facility for angioplasty, or for open heart surgery if it is needed. We are extremely proud of the outcomes of patients with our cardiac and cardiovascular service lines.  It is comforting for all of us to know that when we need cardiac care in our community, that we have excellent physicians and highly trained emergency response personnel and clinicians that work as a team to facilitate the patient outcomes that we all want for our family and friends,” Pennington said.

“When dealing with heart attack patients,” Dr. Diop said, “time is of the essence, and as the saying goes ‘time is muscle.’ The quicker the blockage is opened, the less damage to the heart muscle and the better chance the patient will have to return to their pre-heart attack functional status.”

About GRMC
Gadsden Regional Medical Center is a full-service, 346-bed medical facility that has served the Gadsden and surrounding community for over 100 years.  For more information, visit www.gadsdenregional.com. 

About the Society of Chest Pain Centers:
Established in 1998, SCPC is a patient-centric nonprofit international organization focused on improving care for patients with heart disease. Central to SCPC’s mission is the question, “What is right for the patient?” In response, SCPC promotes protocol-based medicine, often delivered through a chest pain center model, to address the diagnosis and treatment of acute coronary syndrome and heart failure and to promote the adoption of process improvement science by healthcare providers. To best fulfill this mission, SCPS is headquartered in Columbus, Ohio. For more information on SCPC and accreditation opportunities, visit www.scpcp.org, or call toll free 1-877-271-4176.