Hartford Hospital’s Chest Pain Center became the first hospital in New England and the fourth in the country to receive dual accreditation from the Society of Cardiovascular Patient Care in Percutaneous Coronary Intervention (commonly known as coronary angioplasty) and Resuscitation, according to a news release from Hartford Hospital.
An accredited chest pain center’s approach to cardiac patient care allows clinicians to reduce time to treatment during the critical early stages of a heart attack. Accredited facilities better monitor patients when it is not initially clear whether or not a patient is having a coronary event. Such monitoring ensures patients are neither sent home too early nor needlessly admitted, the hospital said.
SCPC’s chest pain center accreditation process came about as more U.S. facilities sought to establish standards and adopt best practices in the quality of care provided to patients experiencing chest pain. SCPC’s accreditation process ensures that hospitals meet or exceed an array of stringent criteria and undergo a comprehensive onsite review by a team of accreditation review specialists.
Hospitals that receive SCPC chest pain center accreditation status have achieved a higher level of expertise in dealing with patients who present with symptoms of a heart attack, the release said.
Heart attacks are the leading cause of death in the United States, with 600,000 people dying annually of heart disease. More than five million Americans visit hospitals each year with chest pain.
