Parkridge Medical Center and Parkridge East Hospital have received full Cycle III accreditation from the Society of Chest Pain Centers’ Accreditation Review Committee.
“Both Parkridge Medical Center and Parkridge East Hospital have been accredited Chest Pain Centers since 2004, and we are constantly working to improve our patient care and response time,” said Darrell Moore, president and CEO of Parkridge Health System. “This is a recognition of the quality care we provide at both facilities.”
“The Parkridge hospitals have worked hard to earn this honor,” said Robin Marsh, emergency department director at Parkridge Medical Center. “This designation lets the public know that we are dedicated to improving awareness about heart disease, facilitating arrival and care in our Emergency Department, and incorporating ideas and processes from across the nation to improve our area’s care plans for our patients.”
“The re-accreditation process is valuable as a tool that allows us to compare our processes and procedures against national standards,” noted Dale Solomon, emergency department director at Parkridge East Hospital. “We are grateful for the opportunity to share in the knowledge base of the society as this helps us to identify, implement and improve our services.”
The Chest Pain Centers at Parkridge Medical Center and Parkridge East Hospital have demonstrated their expertise and commitment to quality patient care by meeting or exceeding a wide set of stringent criteria and completing on-site evaluations with a review team from the Society of Chest Pain Centers. The chest pain accreditation cycle runs for three years and there are three levels of accreditation, with each level featuring increased expectations. With this year’s designation, Parkridge Medical Center and Parkridge East Hospital have completed the highest level of accreditation.
In order to receive the accreditation, there are several key areas in which a Chest Pain Center must exhibit proficiency. These areas 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
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 ensures that centers meet or exceed quality-of-care measures in acute cardiac medicine.
About Parkridge Health System
Parkridge Health System is a multi-campus facility which includes Parkridge Medical Center, Parkridge East Hospital and Parkridge Valley. Parkridge Medical Center, our main campus on McCallie Avenue, offers comprehensive acute care services including cardiology, oncology at our Commission on Cancer approved Sarah Cannon Cancer Center, complete surgical services including the first robotics surgery program in the region, award-winning orthopaedics, and Emergency Services Department designated as an Accredited Chest Pain Center. Parkridge East Hospital is a full service hospital located in East Ridge providing the best in obstetrics including Neonatal Intensive Care, surgical services including robotics, orthopaedics, and gynecological procedures, as well as an Emergency Services Department also designated as an Accredited Chest Pain Center. Parkridge Valley, our behavioral health facility, offers mental health services for children, adolescents and adults as well as treatments for addictive disorders. We are a family of hospitals for your family. To learn more, visit www.ParkridgeMedicalCenter.com or contact MedLine at (800) 242-5662.
About the Society of Chest Pain Centers (SCPC)
The Society of Chest Pain Centers is a patient centric non-profit international professional organization focused upon improving care for patients with acute coronary syndromes and other related maladies. Established in 1998, the Society is dedicated to patient advocacy and focusing on ischemic heart disease. Central to its mission is the question, “What is right for the patient?” In answer, the Society promotes protocol based medicine, often delivered through a Chest Pain Center model to address the diagnosis and treatment of acute coronary syndromes, heart failure, and to promote the adoption of process improvement science by healthcare providers. To best fulfill this mission, the Society of Chest Pain Centers provides accreditation to facilities striving for optimum Chest Pain Center care. SCPC is headquartered in Columbus, Ohio.
For more information on the Society of Chest Pain Centers visit www.scpcp.org, or contact Kay Styer Holmes, RN BSN MSA, Director of Accreditation Services at (614) 442-5950 or kholmes@scpcp.org.