Cycle III accreditation indicates better outcomes for chest pain patients

Texas Health Arlington Memorial Hospital today became the first hospital in Texas and one of a handful in the world to be named a Cycle III Chest Pain Center -- the highest accreditation possible for treatment of chest pain -- by the Society of Chest Pain Centers.

To patients, the designation means that Texas Health Arlington Memorial ranks among the best in the world at rapid recognition and collaborative treatment of heart attack. Nationally, accreditation by the Society of Chest Pain Centers is linked to better patient outcomes and more lives saved, according to an Emory University School of Medicine study published in the American Journal of Cardiology in July.

Starting with the first call for help to 911, medical professionals across multiple disciplines snap to action: Paramedics administer life-saving therapies even before the patient reaches the hospital, and physicians and nurses in the emergency room and cardiac catheterization laboratory begin preparing for the patient before he or she arrives.

"Every second counts when it comes to treating a heart attack -- time is heart muscle," said Hoyt Frenzel, M.D., medical director of the Emergency Department and co-chair of the Chest Pain Center at Texas Health Arlington Memorial.

Collaboration between emergency medical providers and the hospital's emergency department, cardiac catheterization lab, cardiac intensive care unit, telemetry and cardiac rehabilitation unit is critical to the success of chest pain centers.

"We're innovators when it comes to treating heart patients," said Kirk King, FACHE, president of Texas Health Arlington Memorial Hospital. "We have worked with local emergency medical providers, who now administer aspirin therapy in the field before the patient arrives at the emergency room door. The responding paramedics also transmit an electrocardiogram from the patients' home to the ER. Once the patient arrives at the hospital, we perform diagnostic cardiac tests at the bedside, which allows us to reach a definitive diagnosis quicker.