Houston Northwest Medical Center recognized as Cycle III Chest Pain Center with PCI

In its continuous pursuit of quality cardiac care, Houston Northwest Medical Center was proudly recognized as the first accredited chest pain center in Houston and one of a handful in Texas to be named a Cycle III Chest Pain Center with PCI (percutaneous coronary intervention). Cycle III accreditation is the highest accreditation possible for treatment of chest pain -- by the Society of Chest Pain Centers.

The Society of Chest Pain Centers (SCPC) is a patient centric non-profit international professional organization focused upon improving care for patients with acute coronary syndromes and other related maladies. The Society's accreditation recognizes Chest Pain Centers who have 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.

"The high standards set by the society will benefit our patients, who can be certain that our goal with our heart attack patients is to save lives, improve patient outcomes, and provide an overall strategy for cardiac care," says Pam Egan, Director of the Ed Roberson Heart Center at Houston Northwest Medical Center.

To earn Chest Pain Center accreditation, a facility must successfully meet the Society's eight criteria:

• 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
• Continually seeking to improve processes and procedures
• Ensuring Chest Pain Center personnel competency and training
• Maintaining organizational structure and commitment
• Having a functional design that promotes optimal patient care
• Supporting community outreach programs that educate the public to promptly seek medical care if they display symptoms of a possible heart attack

"We collectively looked at the entire continuum of care and involved everyone who would impact how quickly and efficiently the patient could be treated," says Catherine Bissell, RN, Chest Pain Center coordinator. "Everyone is vital to making this program work as a seamless system."

Dedicated to quickly restoring blood flood to a patient suffering from a heart attack, Houston Northwest Medical Center and Cypress Creek EMS have joined forces to implement protocols that improve response mechanisms designed to decrease door-to-balloon time - the time that elapses from a patient's arrival to treatment with angioplasty - for patients suffering from ST elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI), a severe heart attack in which an artery is significantly blocked. According to the American Heart Association and the American College of Cardiology the national recommendation for restoring blood flow is 90 minutes. In 2008, the average door-to-balloon time at Houston Northwest Medical Center was 62 minutes.

"Our program is successful because all members work together as a cohesive team and the program is supported by everyone from administration down," Amilcar Avendano, M.D., Medical Director of the Chest Pain Center at Houston Northwest Medical Center.

There are 81 accredited Chest Pain Centers in Texas and out of 81 only 4 including Houston Northwest Medical Center are Cycle III accredited. Cycle III accreditation involves more extensive involvement in chest pain quality improvement projects, extensive staff education training in dealing with chest pain, higher staff credentials in cardiovascular diseases, and more outreach and community education about chest pain.

"We are very proud of this accomplishment and would like to congratulate the emergency physicians, cardiologists, nurses and other members of the Chest Pain Center team whose hard work and dedication to quality helped achieve this honor," says Drew Kahn, Chief Executive Officer at Houston Northwest Medical Center.