Chest Pain Center accreditation confirmed for all three Scottsdale Healthcare hospitals

June 17, 2009

SCOTTSDALE – The Society for Chest Pain Centers has announced that all three Scottsdale Healthcare hospitals are now accredited as Certified Chest Pain Centers.

ChestpainacredlogoScottsdale Healthcare Thompson Peak Hospital received full Cycle II accreditation, Scottsdale Healthcare Osborn Medical Center and Scottsdale Healthcare Shea Medical Center both received full Cycle II accreditation with PCI.

Accreditation as a chest pain center means each hospital meets or exceeds a wide set of stringent criteria and completed on-site evaluations by a review team from the Society of Chest Pain Centers.

“Chest Pain Center designation affirms that we have coordinated training and care between our local emergency medical service providers and the hospitals’ emergency departments, cardiac cath labs and cardiologists in treating patients with chest pain and heart attacks,” said Jean Knoedler, VP and administrator at Scottsdale Healthcare Thompson Peak Hospital.

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. Key areas in which a Chest Pain Center must demonstrate expertise include:

• 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.

“Those who care for cardiac patients say ‘time is muscle.’ Speeding up the diagnosis and treatment of someone having a heart attack, and preventing further injury to the heart, is our goal,” said Scottsdale Healthcare President and CEO Tom Sadvary. “Achieving Chest Pain Center designation for our hospitals is a benefit for our community and a tribute to the hard work and collaboration of our physicians, staff and local EMS providers.”

The Society of Chest Pain Centers is a patient centric non-profit international professional organization focused upon improving care for patients with acute coronary syndromes and other related maladies. For more information on the Society of Chest Pain Centers visit www.scpcp.org, or contact Robert Lipetz, Executive Director at 614-442-5950 or by e-mail at [email protected].