Excellence In Cardiac Care Leads To Elite Accreditation

OSF Saint Anthony Medical Center is the first medical center in Rockford, the fourth in Illinois and the 90th in the nation to achieve accreditation as a Chest Pain Center.

Accreditation is earned by medical centers with emergency departments that are able to provide a full-spectrum of emergency cardiac care, rapid diagnosis and fast track treatment. A multidisciplinary team composed of members of the OSF Saint Anthony Cardiovascular Services, Trauma and Emergency Services and medical center administrative staff worked to obtain Chest Pain Center status.

"People benefit by quickly learning why they are having chest pain," said Dr. Eric Benink, assistant administrator of medical staff services at OSF Saint Anthony. "OSF Saint Anthony emergency department physicians are prepared to make rapid clinical assessments to determine if people need to be taken directly to our cardiac catheterization lab for fast treatment or have electrocardiogram readings and symptoms closely monitored."

Bedside analysis of blood tests, rapid electrocardiogram testing, as well as 24-hour diagnostic and interventional cardiac services help speed diagnosis and treatment. Faster treatment is a key to saving heart muscle, which in turns leads to better outcomes and shorter hospital stays, says Dr. Benink.

OSF Saint Anthony is also the first in the region to receive full Cycle II Chest Pain Center accreditation from the Accreditation Review Committee. The elite, three-year full Cycle II accreditation with PCI (percutaneous coronary intervention) was announced by the Society of Chest Pain Centers was announced for 2008

The full spectrum of care includes not only rapid diagnosis and fast-track treatment but also the use of the new 12-lead EKG capabilities from Lifeline Ambulance directly to the OSF Saint Anthony Emergency Department (ED) while the patient is in transit. This technology allows the ED physicians to make rapid clinical assessments and have the cardiology team waiting. In some instance, the time from arrival at the ED to the cath lab has been as little as 14 minutes.

The Level I Trauma Center at OSF Saint Anthony serves more than 20 hospitals in northern Illinois stretching from the suburbs of Chicago to the Mississippi River, as well as southern Wisconsin. Lifeline Helicopter service, which is based at OSF Saint Anthony, transports approximately 600 patients per year, and the expanded emergency department treats nearly 40,000 people annually.

In addition, physicians of Cardiovascular Services perform and train their counterparts, who come to OSF Saint Anthony from major medical centers throughout the country, in a variety of cardiac procedures. And, OSF Saint Anthony is home to an all digital cardiac catheterization lab and its surgeons perform off-pump cardiac bypass surgery.

After a written application was completed, an onsite review team from the Society visited OSF Saint Anthony. The Society found OSF Saint Anthony demonstrated its leadership in both providing and improving cardiac care in the following ways:

• working with area emergency service providers to improve care for patients suffering from cardiac symptoms who are being transported to the medical center;
• implementing an emergency assessment process to care for those with acute cardiac syndromes;
• creating an observation program to monitor and evaluate low- and moderate-risk patients being treated in the emergency department;
• designing and equipping the emergency department to function as a chest pain evaluation center that provides optimum care;
• ensuring physicians and nurses are specially trained to care for patients with acute cardiac syndromes;
• maintaining continuous quality improvement programs to evaluate and improve care.
• having administrators, medical staff, nurses and support staff dedicated to supporting the Chest Pain Center accreditation;
• sponsoring community outreach programs that include free screenings for total cholesterol, blood sugar and blood pressure.

The Society of Chest Pain Centers is a patient centered professional society with a focus on heart disease and a mission of educating the public and healthcare professionals on the importance of rapid diagnosis and treatment for those experiencing possible symptoms of acute coronary syndromes. It is guided by a multidisciplinary team of leading clinical experts in the areas of cardiology, emergency medicine and nursing. Its website is www.scpcp.org.