April 2008

Streamlined Heart Care at Frankford Hospitals

Contributed by: Ruth Rambo and Stacey Prociuk,

Chest Pain Center Committee

Did you know that Frankford’s Torresdale and Bucks County Campuses are both Level I Accredited Chest Pain Centers?What does accreditation mean to hospital employees, our families and the community? Why is accreditation so important?

Accreditation as a Level I Chest Pain Center is founded upon our institution’s administrative commitment to providing streamlined, leading-edge care to the Acute Coronary Syndrome (ACS) patient. The Society of Chest Pain Centers is focused on improving the delivery of care from admission thru discharge, as well as implementing a continuum of education to staff members and the community for the early assessment, diagnosis, and treatment of Acute Coronary Syndromes. This process is overseen by Frankford Hospitals’ Chest Pain Center Committee, which is a multidisciplinary team devoted to promoting an operational model that facilitates ACS care.

Research has shown that when a heart attack strikes, “time is muscle,” and every minute is crucial toward reducing heart muscle damage. Since 2006 our institution has dramatically reduced the time it takes to restore blood flow to the heart by developing our “STEMI ALERT” process, and centrally locating patient care services within our new Heart Center that opened in December 2007. Through ongoing process improvement we will continue to build upon our present practices to provide exemplary ACS care.

Please join us on our quest to renew our accreditation in December 2008. For more information regarding Chest Pain Center Accreditation, or ideas to improve ACS care please contact Ruth Rambo (rrambo@fhcs.org) or Stacey Prociuk (sprociuk@fhcs.org).