July 14, 2004 Wauwatosa, WI – The Wisconsin Heart Hospital (TWHH) has opened the first Chest Pain Center in the greater Milwaukee area to be accredited by the Society of Chest Pain Centers (SCPC).
The SCPC seal of accreditation is an important distinction among Chest Pain Centers because it certifies that the center and its staff are totally prepared to care for patients with heart attack symptoms. Successful treatment of heart attacks is time dependent and must be initiated rapidly.
“As a leading provider of cardiovascular care in Milwaukee and southeastern Wisconsin, we are very pleased to have received formal accreditation from the SCPC as a Chest Pain Center,” said Norma McCutcheon, President of The Wisconsin Heart Hospital. “Their on-site review team was very thorough and they found that our center is totally prepared to care for patients with heart attack symptoms. They examined every aspect of our cardiac services and determined that we have a systematic approach to patient management that allows our doctors and nurses to reduce the time prior to treatment during the critical early stages of a heart attack.”
Scott Soronen, SCPC Accreditation Review Team, Lead Reviewer, added: "The accreditation review committee was especially impressed with the unique architectural design of the heart hospital that is geared to maximize the efficiency of staff and time-to-treatment for just admitted patients. The emergency department is mere seconds down the hallway from the catheterization lab and when someone’s having a heart attack, those seconds are critical."
The Chest Pain Center’s protocol driven and streamlined approach to patient management allows physicians to reduce time to treatment during the critical early stages of a heart attack, when treatments are most effective, and to better monitor patients when it is not clear whether they are having a coronary event. Such observation helps ensure that a patient is neither sent home too early nor needlessly admitted.
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. The goal of the Society of Chest Pain Centers is to significantly reduce the mortality rate of these patients. The society seeks to teach the public to recognize and react to the early symptoms of a possible heart attack, reduce the time that it takes to receive treatment, and increase the accuracy and effectiveness of treatment.
The Chest Pain Center at The Wisconsin Heart Hospital has demonstrated 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.
Key areas in which The Wisconsin Heart Hospital's Chest Pain Center demonstrated expertise included:
- 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
- Having a functional design that promotes optimal patient care
- Ensuring Chest Pain Center personnel competency and training
- Maintaining organizational structure and commitment
- Continually seeking to improve processes and procedures
- Supporting community outreach programs that educate the public to promptly seek medical care if they have symptoms of a possible heart attack.
About The Wisconsin Heart Hospital
An exciting, new era in the delivery of specialized cardiovascular care arrived in Wisconsin with the opening of The Wisconsin Heart Hospital (TWHH) at 10000 West Blue Mound Road (across from the Milwaukee County Zoo) in Wauwatosa, WI. The new hospital officially opened its doors on January 26.
The partnership between cardiovascular, specialty physicians, the community, investors and Wheaton Franciscan Healthcare. has produced a 60-bed specialized care hospital dedicated to providing advanced and innovative cardiovascular medical and surgical services delivered in a unique acute-care and ambulatory setting. Offering a true patient and family-centered experience, TWHH’s facility design complements the evolving future of ambulatory cardiovascular care. The model was designed to improve upon conventional treatment paradigms and deliver a highly focused process resulting in:
- Shortened treatment times
- Reduced probability of higher procedure complexity
- Avoidance of post-procedural complications
- Hastened return of the patient to normal day-to-day activities
About the Society of Chest Pain Centers
The Society of Chest Pain Centers (SCPC) is an international professional society focused on improving care for patients with acute coronary syndromes and related maladies. Established in 1998, The Society is dedicated to patient advocacy and focusing on ischemic heart disease. Central to its mission is the question, “What is right for the patient?” In answer, The Society promotes protocol-based medicine, often delivered through a Chest Pain Center model to address the diagnosis and treatment of acute coronary syndromes, heart failure, and to promote the adoption of process improvement science by healthcare providers. SCPC is headquartered in Columbus, Ohio. For more information, visit www.scpcp.org.
(Editor’s Note: To arrange for interviews and/or video or photo opportunities regarding the TWHH Chest Pain Center, please contact either Michael Beightol or Tom Andrews as noted above.)
The Wisconsin Heart Hospital – The New Direction in Heart Care
