FLORENCE — Carolinas Hospital System’s Chest Pain Center is the first chest pain center in the region to receive full accreditation from the Society of Chest Pain Centers.
Although there are nine accredited chest pain centers in the state, the one at Carolinas is the first in the Pee Dee to earn that status.
Dr. William Cauthen Jr., medical director of emergency medicine and co-director of the chest pain center at Carolinas, said the accreditation gives patients a new reason to choose Carolinas as their healthcare provider in times of cardiac crisis.
“Accredited facility just gives you the assurance that the facility has been evaluated an has a systematic approach to chest pain and that the outcomes and interventions are appropriate and meet national guidelines,” he said.
Cauthen said the accreditation isn’t for one specific part of the hospital, but rather for the hospital’s response to chest pain as a whole.
“It’s not one place in the hospital, it’s not just the Emergency Medical Services, it’s not just the Cardiac Cath Lab or the Intensive Care Unit,” he said. “It’s how the entire facility responds to a patient with chest pain.”
Earning accreditation was more than just the application process, Cauthen said.
“We had to look at our facility, and train staff at every level,” he said. “(The Society of Chest Pain Centers) come in and look at every step in the process.”
Heart attacks are the leading cause of death in the United States, according to the American Heart Association.
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 by teaching 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.
Registered nurse Brenda O’Connell, trauma/chest pain center coordinator, said accreditation is especially important in the Pee Dee, where cardiac problems are higher than the national average.
“It’s a huge opportunity to work with the community and to educate the population when they come into the hospital,” she said.
The Chest Pain Center’s protocol driven and systematic approach to patient management allows physicians to ensure that a patient is neither sent home too early nor admitted to the hospital needlessly.
— Staff writer Jamie Durant can be reached at (843) 317-7263. Comment on this story at scnow.com.
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