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Aurora St. Luke's Medical Center now an accredited chest pain centerPatients with chest pain who arrive in St. Luke's emergency department will have the utmost confidence that they will be diagnosed and treated based on best practices, that our procedures are of the highest quality, and that we are always on the cutting edge of treating chest pain patients. How do they know this? Because St. Luke's is now an accredited Chest Pain Center. This is a significant accomplishment because it means we are committed to providing the highest national standards of care and quality for chest pain patients. “Being an accredited Chest Pain Center means we have the structure and processes in place to care for patients who come through our doors with chest pain (cardiac or non-cardiac) and deliver the best care based on the most current research,” explains Mia Stone, regional cardiac program manager and newly appointed chest pain coordinator. Achieving accreditationMany of the elements required for accreditation have been in place for some time at St. Luke's. For example, stress testing is available 7 days a week, and our emergency department recently began utilizing bedside cardiac lab testing, resulting in patients getting diagnosed within minutes of arrival. The rigorous accreditation process involved compiling documentation of how St. Luke's meets the Society's criteria for 8 key elements including emergency assessment of patients with symptoms of acute coronary syndrome and organizational structure. Then, a site visit by the Society of Chest pain Centers was conducted. What this means for patientsA new chest pain committee meets monthly to review outcomes for all chest pain patients and look at ways to improve the care we deliver. Also, as an accredited center, we are committed to delivering evidence-based medicine. This means we are constantly reviewing literature for best practices that have evidence of superior patient outcomes based on clinical trials. Our commitment to providing the best care for chest pain patients will continue to strengthen as we maintain our accreditation status. Dr. Heidi Harkins, Director of Emergency Medicine at St. Luke's, says, “Standards for chest pain centers will only get tougher, so we will constantly strive to implement the most up-to-date practices based on nationally recognized research.”
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