Chest Pain Centers
If you face a medical emergency, it's reassuring to know that the emergency departments of all five Wheaton Franciscan Healthcare hospitals have accredited Chest Pain Center designations, conferred by the Society of Chest Pain Centers (SCPC). Elmbrook Memorial, All Saints, St. Joseph, St. Francis and The Wisconsin Heart Hospital are committed to evaluating every patient who arrives with chest pain and beginning treatment within 90 minutes or less, to reduce damage to the heart.
Wheaton Franciscan Heart Care Offers Five Accredited Chest Pain Centers
The SCPC seal of accreditation is an important distinction among Chest Pain Centers because it certifies that the center and its staff are totally prepared to care for patients with heart attack symptoms. Successful treatment of heart attacks is time dependent and must be initiated rapidly. The Chest Pain Center's protocol driven and streamlined 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.
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. The society seeks to teach 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.
Demonstrated Expertise
The Chest Pain Centers at all of the Wheaton Franciscan Hospitals have demonstrated 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 the Chest Pain Centers demonstrated expertise included:
- 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 have symptoms
