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Erlanger Medical Center First Accredited Chest Pain Center in Tennessee

CHATTANOOGA, TN - November 13, 2003. The Society of Chest Pain Centers and Providers has granted the designation of Accredited Chest Pain Center to Erlanger Medical Center, making it the first Chest Pain Center in Tennessee to be accredited and the 6th in the nation.

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 and Providers 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 insures centers meet or exceed quality-of-care measures in acute cardiac medicine.

The Chest Pain Center at Erlanger Medical Center has 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 and Providers. 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
• Insuring 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 Society’s on-site review team was most impressed by the commitment to the accreditation process shown at Erlanger Medical Center's Chest Pain Center. The Erlanger group excelled in all areas from internal organization and documentation to the formation of an outstanding community outreach program. The Society also noted an outstanding training program within the Chest Pain Center for physicians and nurses.

"Erlanger is honored to be the first hospital in the tri-State area to be accredited as a Chest Pain Center. Our accreditation is the result of team effort among nursing, administration, emergency medicine, cardiology, radiology, and thoracic surgery as well as from the pre-hospital integration with Hamilton County EMS and Erlanger's LIFE FORCE air ambulance program,” said Francis Fesmire, M.D., Erlanger Chest Pain Center Director.

"Because of our strong commitment to superior patient care, Erlanger is pleased to be the sixth hospital in the country and the first in Tennessee, Georgia and Alabama to be accredited by the Society of Chest Pain Centers and Providers. The accreditation demonstrates our entire team's commitment to producing high quality patient care outcomes," said Charlesetta Woodard-Thompson, Erlanger Health System Interim CEO.

The Society commends Erlanger Medical Center for their dedication to bringing the first Accredited Chest Pain Center to Tennessee.

About the Society of Chest Pain Centers
The Society of Chest Pain Centers (SCPC) is an international professional society focused on improving care for patients with acute coronary syndromes and related maladies. The Society is committed to improving the quality of patient care through protocol-based medicine and the adoption of process improvement science to healthcare. SCPC is headquartered in Columbus, Ohio. For more information, visit www.scpcp.org.

For more information on Erlanger Medical Center, its Accredited Chest Pain Center, or its community outreach programs, call (423) 778-LINK.

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