48.5 F
New York
Thursday, March 28, 2024

Southside Hospital Recognized by AHA for Heart Attack Care

Related Articles

-Advertisement-

Must read

Members of Southside Hospital’s cardiology team with the American Heart Association’s 2015 Mission: Lifeline Bronze Plus Receiving Center award.

For implementing specific quality improvement measures for the treatment of patients who suffer severe heart attacks, Southside Hospital has been recognized by the American Heart Association as a 2015 Mission: Lifeline Bronze Plus Receiving Center. Southside Hospital is the first hospital in Suffolk County to receive this designation.

Each year in the United States, approximately 250,000 people have a STEMI, or ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction, caused by a complete blockage of blood flow to the heart that requires timely treatment. To prevent death, it’s critical to immediately restore blood flow, either by surgically opening the blocked vessel or by giving clot-busting medication.

Southside Hospital earned the award by meeting specific criteria and standards of performance for the quick and appropriate treatment of STEMI patients by providing emergency procedures to re-establish blood flow to blocked arteries when needed. Eligible hospitals must adhere to these measures at a set level for a designated period to receive the awards.

Southside Hospital received Bronze recognition for treatment of at least nine patients who had a STEMI with over 85 percent adherence to all Mission: Lifeline STEMI Receiving Center quality achievement indicators for consecutive 90-day intervals and over 75 percent compliance on all quality measures to improve the quality of care for STEMI patients.

In addition to receiving the Mission: Lifeline Bronze Receiving award, Southside Hospital has also been recognized as a recipient of Mission: Lifeline’s Bronze-Plus award, which recognizes the hospital has reached an achievement score of 75 percent or greater for treating STEMI transfer patients within 120 minutes. Treatment for STEMI patients includes using a balloon or stents to open blocked arteries. Southside’s fastest time to date getting a patient from their home to the care they needed was 28 minutes.

“There is a saying that time is muscle, which is particularly the case with a STEMI,” said Burak Arkonac, MD, director of interventional cardiology at Southside Hospital. “Southside’s cardiology and emergency medicine teams really coordinate to get patients the critical care they need quickly, which this award recognizes.”

“We commend Southside Hospital for this achievement award, which reflects a significant institutional commitment to the highest quality of care for their heart attack patients,” said James G. Jollis, MD, Chair of the Mission: Lifeline Advisory Working Group and President of the North Carolina Chapter of the American College of Cardiology. “Achieving this award means the hospital has met specific reporting and achievement measures for the treatment of their patients who suffer heart attacks and we applaud them for their commitment to quality and timely care.”

Southside also recently began using Physio-Control’s LIFENET system, which allows pre-hospital medical providers to transmit essential information about the patient who is having a heart attack to the hospital’s cardiac and emergency medicine teams. This allows the cardiac on call team to be ready for quick intervention when the patient arrives to the hospital.

For more information about Southside’s Mission: Lifeline Bronze Plus achievement, contact the cardiology department at (631) 591-7400.

balance of natureDonate

Latest article

- Advertisement -