When minutes matter most, Tanner Health System now offers two fully accredited regional destinations to assess, diagnose and treat anyone experiencing chest pain.
The cardiac care programs at Tanner Medical Center/Carrollton and Tanner Medical Center/Villa Rica have been accredited by the Society of Cardiovascular Patient Care (SCPC).
The chest pain accreditation process included vigorous on-site inspections, interviews with patient care teams and process refinement and evaluation to ensure that chest pain patients will receive the best possible care as quickly as possible.
“These accreditations are products of the continuing partnership between local EMS agencies, the physicians and patient care teams in our emergency departments, our cardiologists and our catheterization lab staff, all of whom have been working together to deliver exceptional emergency heart care for years already,” said Loy Howard, president and CEO of Tanner Health System.
To achieve accreditation, the health system further streamlined its processes for the diagnosis, treatment and management of chest pain patients, ensuring patients receive medically appropriate lengths of stay after treatment and verifying that its treatment protocols are on par with the latest evidence-based processes.
“This accreditation validates the approach to care that we’ve had in place,” said Shazib Khawaja, MD, a board-certified interventional cardiologist and endovascular specialist with Tanner Heart & Vascular Specialists and medical operations leader for Tanner Heart Care. “At both Tanner Medical Center/Carrollton and Tanner Medical Center/Villa Rica, we’re delivering lifesaving care faster than the national average, preserving heart muscle and providing follow-up care to reduce the risk of future heart attacks. That continuum of care is very unique for a community hospital setting.”
Tanner Medical Center/Carrollton is one of only a few community hospitals in Georgia offering percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) — also called angioplasty and stenting — to relieve the symptoms of a heart attack and preserve heart muscle. Tanner expanded the service to Tanner Medical Center/Villa Rica in 2015, providing a second regional destination for lifesaving heart care.
Tanner maintains cardiac care teams on standby around the clock to respond to chest pain patients, with measures in place to move patients into treatment as quickly as possible.
According to Dr. Khawaja, the way to make the most of Tanner’s accredited chest pain care — and have the best chance of surviving a heart attack — is for anyone experiencing a heart attack themselves or in the presence of someone having a heart attack is to call 911.
“That’s how the chain of survival begins,” said Dr. Khawaja. “The ambulance can respond quickly and it enables the hospital to actually begin the process of assessing the patient even before he or she arrives, by radioing ahead EKG readings and other vital information. Ambulances are also better prepared to respond if the patient experiences sudden cardiac arrest while en route to the hospital. The care is delivered faster when 911 is called.”
Just more than 30 Georgia and almost 20 Alabama hospitals have been accredited as Chest Pain Centers by the SCPC. Many of these are in more urban areas, such as Atlanta, Augusta, Macon and Savannah.
“This continues to prove that our patients are making an educated choice when they rely on Tanner for their care,” said Howard. “We’re continuing to lead the industry in quality and patient satisfaction, and this accreditation illustrates our drive to push the envelope on patient care.”
More information about Tanner’s cardiac services can be found online at www.TannerHeartCare.org.