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Press Release
Riverside Methodist Hospital ~ First Accredited Chest Pain Center in Central Ohio
COLUMBUS, OH – March 25, 2004. The Society of Chest Pain Centers has granted the designation of Accredited Chest Pain Center to Riverside Methodist Hospital, making it the first in the Columbus metro area, third in Ohio, and 29th in the nation to be accredited.
“I am very proud of our accreditation,” said Dr. Warren Yamarick, Co-Medical Director of the Chest Pain Center at Riverside. “We have always been a leader in the treatment of patients with heart disease. This designation reaffirms our longstanding commitment to the quality of care and level of expertise we give to our many chest pain patients.”
“Being designated as a Chest Pain Center by the Society is an awesome accomplishment for the entire institution,” said Nancy McBride, RN, Outcomes Manager for Riverside Emergency Services. “Accreditation is an ongoing process that will require the hospital to meet current and upcoming standards for treatment of patients with heart disease.”
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 insures centers meet or exceed quality-of-care measures in acute cardiac medicine.
The Chest Pain Center at Riverside Methodist Hospital 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. 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
- Early Heart Attack Warning Symptoms
Anthony T. Chapekis, MD, cardiology, and Warren Yamarick, MD, emergency medicine, are co-medical directors of the Chest Pain Center at Riverside. Kathy Spencer, RN, BSN, Outcomes Manager for Interventional Cardiology and Nancy McBride, RN, BSN, CEN, Outcomes Manager for Emergency Services, are co-coordinators of the Chest Pain Center.
About Riverside Methodist Hospital
Riverside is a member of OhioHealth, a nationally recognized, Columbus-based, not-for-profit, charitable organization serving and supported by the community. It is a family of hospitals, health and surgery centers, home-health providers, medical equipment and other health service suppliers throughout a 46-county area. In 2003, U.S. News & World Report named Riverside one of “America's Best Hospitals” for heart and heart surgery and Grant as one of America's Best Hospitals" for orthopedics – the only central Ohio hospitals to receive that designation for heart care and orthopedics. More information can be obtained at www.ohiohealth.com.
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 Riverside Methodist Hospital, contact Mark Hopkins, Media Relations at (614) 566-5060 or mhopkins@ohiohealth.com.
Society Media Contact
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