Baptist Heart Services Receives First Chest Pain Accreditation in the Metro Jackson Area

Contact: Robby Channell, 601-968-5135 rchannell@mbhs.org

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Jackson, Miss. – April 25, 2006 - The Society of Chest Pain Centers has granted Baptist Heart Services, a division of Baptist Medical Center in Jackson, Miss., accreditation for its care of chest pain patients. Baptist is the first hospital in the Metro Jackson area to receive this designation that establishes Baptist as a premier hospital for acute cardiac care in this area.

“This indicates nationally recognized experts have verified that heart attack patients receive the best possible care at Baptist, from the ER to the Cath lab,” said Baptist Emergency Department Medical Director Eric Zoog, M.D. “The society has very strict criteria and has determined Baptist performs well enough to receive the highest accreditation. To achieve this, we had to both submit our process with written analysis and pass an on-site investigation.”

The accreditation demonstrates Baptist adheres very closely to recommendations from the American College of Cardiology, the American College of Emergency Physicians and the American Heart Association. The guidelines call for the earliest possible determination—in the Emergency Room—of the patient’s risk for a serious cardiac event such as a heart attack. It also prescribes what symptoms and tests should be used to evaluate risk and specifies treatments that correspond to the risk level determined.

“Compliance with guidelines and recommendations of the ACC and AHA have been shown to improve outcomes and save lives of patients with coronary artery disease,” added Cardiologist Todd Lawson, M.D. with Cardiovascular Associates, P.A.

For several years, Baptist has been working on identifying ways to improve care and processes to expedite early diagnosis and intervention of chest pain patients. One example is the creation of the Cardiac Observation Unit in 2003, which is designated for the rapid identification of the cause of chest pain for patients arriving at the ER.

“The development of this unit was the result of recommendations from a team composed of cardiologists, emergency medicine physicians, and clinical staff members from nursing, the ER, cardiac rehab and the pharmacy, who all came together with a plan to enhance patient flow through the ER and minimize unnecessary hospital admissions,” added Baptist Vice President of Ambulatory and Clinical Services Steve Jackson.

Click here for more information on Baptist Heart Services and the Chest Pain Observation Unit.

ABOUT THE SOCIETY OF CHEST PAIN CENTERS
The Society of Chest Pain Centers inaugurated an accreditation process through which they evaluate Chest Pain Centers across the country in order to ensure that these centers meet or exceed quality-of-care measures in acute cardiac medicine. The Society of Chest Pain Centers is a patient centric non-profit international professional association organization focused upon improving care for patients with acute coronary syndromes and other maladies.

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