Texas Health Arlington Memorial Hospital gets special chest pain accreditation

by PegNews wire

ARLINGTON — Texas Health Arlington Memorial Hospital became the first hospital in Texas and one of a handful in the world to be named a Cycle III Chest Pain Center -- the highest accreditation possible for treatment of chest pain -- by the Society of Chest Pain Centers.

The designation means that Texas Health Arlington Memorial ranks among the best in the world at rapid recognition and collaborative treatment of heart attack. Nationally, accreditation by the Society of Chest Pain Centers is linked to better patient outcomes and more lives saved, according to an Emory University School of Medicine study published in the American Journal of Cardiology in July.

Starting with the first call for help to 911, medical professionals across multiple disciplines snap to action: Paramedics administer life-saving therapies even before the patient reaches the hospital, and physicians and nurses in the emergency room and cardiac catheterization laboratory begin preparing for the patient before he or she arrives.

Collaboration between emergency medical providers and the hospital's emergency department, cardiac catheterization lab, cardiac intensive care unit, telemetry and cardiac rehabilitation unit is critical to the success of chest pain centers.

Heart disease is the leading cause of death in Tarrant County and across the United States. One person dies every minute nationwide from a coronary event, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The average amount of time that passes from the moment a heart attack patient arrives at the emergency department until physicians have successfully completed the procedure to reopen a blocked artery is 66 minutes. The national target for is 90 minutes.

Source: Texas Health Arlington Memorial Hospital