Wilkes-Barre General Hospital Achieves New Status as Accredited Chest Pain Center

1/11/2015

WILKES-BARRE, Pa.  (Jan. 12, 2015) – Commonwealth Health Wilkes-Barre General Hospital has received Chest Pain Center Accreditation from the Society of Cardiovascular Patient Care (SCPC), an international not-for-profit organization that focuses on transforming cardiovascular care by assisting facilities in their effort to create communities of excellence that bring together quality, cost and patient satisfaction.

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, Wilkes-Barre General 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 General Hospital, 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,” Diane Kane, program coordinator at the hospital’s Heart and Vascular Institute, said. “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.”

Cor Catena, CEO of Commonwealth Health, commended the Heart and Vascular Institute staff for its excellent teamwork, noting that the cardiac care program encompasses the entire continuum of care for the heart patient and includes such focal points as dispatch, emergency medical system, emergency department, catheterization lab, and quality assurance plan.

“We are proud of this designation and most importantly, proud of the teamwork that made this possible,” Catena said. “This is further proof that you don’t have to travel outside the area to receive the best and most up-to-date medical care.”

By becoming an Accredited Chest Pain Center, Wilkes-Barre General Hospital has enhanced the quality of care for the cardiac patient and has demonstrated its commitment to higher standards.