sinai in the news
Mount Sinai Hospital Achieves New Status as Accredited Chest Pain Center
(Mount Sinai Hospital – Chicago, Illinois) announces that it has received Chest Pain Center Accreditation from the Society of Chest Pain Centers (SCPC), an international organization dedicated to eliminating heart disease as the number one cause of death worldwide.
Hospitals that have received SCPC accreditation have achieved a higher level of expertise in dealing with patients who arrive with symptoms of a heart attack. They emphasize the importance of standardized diagnostic and treatment programs that provide more efficient and effective evaluation as well as more appropriate and rapid treatment of patients with chest pain and other heart attack symptoms. They also serve as a point of entry into the healthcare system to evaluate and treat other medical problems, and they help to promote a healthier lifestyle in an attempt to reduce the risk factors for heart attack.
To become an Accredited Chest Pain Center, Mount Sinai Hospital engaged in rigorous evaluation by SCPC for its ability to assess, diagnose, and treat patients who may be experiencing a heart attack. To the community served by Mount Sinai Hsopital, this means that processes are in place that meet strict criteria aimed at:
- Reducing the time from onset of symptoms to diagnosis and treatment
- Treating patients more quickly during the critical window of time when the integrity of the heart muscle can be preserved
- Monitoring patients when it is not certain that they are having a heart attack to ensure that they are not sent home too quickly or needlessly admitted to the hospital
“People tend to wait when they think they might be having a heart attack, and that’s a mistake. The average patient arrives in the emergency department more than two hours after the onset of symptoms, but what they don’t realize is that the sooner a heart attack is treated, the less damage to the heart and the better the outcome for the patient,” says Sandeep Khosla, MD, Chief of Cardiology, Mount Sinai Hospital.
Mount Sinai Hospital has the entire continuum of care for the heart patient and includes such focal points as the emergency department, cath lab, patient education and follow up after discharge. By becoming an Accredited Chest Pain Center, Mount Sinai Hospital has enhanced the quality of care for the cardiac patient and has demonstrated its commitment to higher standards.
About Sinai Health System and Mount Sinai Hospital
Located on the west side of Chicago, Sinai Health System is recognized as a national
model for urban health care delivery. Sinai Health System is comprised of Mount
Sinai Hospital, Sinai Children's Hospital, Schwab Rehabilitation Hospital, and
Sinai Medical Group, Sinai Community Institute and Sinai Urban Health Institute.
Mount Sinai Hospital is a 319 bed teaching hospital that provides medical,
surgical, behavioral health, therapeutic and diagnostic services. The Emergency
Department is a Level I Trauma Center providing care to nearly 60,000 patients.
A major teaching hospital for the Chicago area, Mount Sinai Hospital trains more
than 700 health care professionals per year.
For more information on Mount Sinai Hospital and its Chest Pain Program, contact
program coordinator Anh Nguyen, APN, CCRN, MBA at 773.257.6452.
About the Society of Chest Pain Centers
Established in 1998, SCPC is a patient-centric nonprofit international organization
focused on improving care for patients with heart disease. Central to SCPC’s
mission is the question, “What is right for the patient?” In response,
SCPC promotes protocol-based medicine, often delivered through a chest pain center
model, to address the diagnosis and treatment of acute coronary syndrome and
heart failure and to promote the adoption of process improvement science by healthcare
providers. To best fulfill this mission, SCPC provides accreditation and education
to facilities striving for optimum cardiac care. SCPC is headquartered in Columbus,
Ohio. For more information on SCPC and accreditation opportunities, visit www.scpcp.org,
or call toll free 1-877-271-4176.
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