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Heart attack is the leading cause of death in the adult population in the United States. One of the most well-known symptoms of a heart attack is chest pain. Each year, more than five million Americans enter the hospital with chest pain. Of those, 1.25 million will be having chest pain due to a blocked artery, causing a heart attack, and up to 600,000 may die of heart disease. For good outcomes, the individual must quickly recognize the signs and symptoms of a heart attack and the physician must quickly make the diagnosis.
What is The Christ Hospital Chest Pain Center?
The Christ Hospital works hard to provide this quality care to patients everyday and became the first hospital in Greater Cincinnati to receive Chest Pain Center Full Accreditation with Percutaneous Coronary Intervention Capabilities by the Society of Chest Pain Centers.
Although chest pain is one of the most common complaints of patients presenting to the emergency department, only 10 – 15 percent of patients with chest pain are having a heart attack. One of the goals of a Chest Pain Center (CPC) is to significantly reduce the time it takes for a patient experiencing symptoms of a possible heart attack to see a physician, thus reducing the time to treatment during the critical early stages, when treatments are most effective. |
Another feature of the Chest Pain Center is to provide a specialized observation setting in which physicians are better able to monitor patients when it is not clear whether they are having a cardiac event. Such observation helps ensure that a patient is not sent home too early and that you are treated properly according to the most accurate diagnosis.
What should I do if I have chest pain?
Once a heart attack begins, every minute that passes means more heart muscle damage. It is crucial for anyone who experiences heart attack symptoms to call 911 right away. A fast response for help will translate into more lives saved.
How can I have my chest pain treated faster?
This chest pain treatment may begin before you enter the emergency room. The Christ Hospital has partnered with area Emergency Medical Service (EMS) providers to advance and improve the treatment for heart attack. EMS providers use special technology that can make the diagnosis of heart attack onsite at the home or workplace and send the vital information directly to the hospital, saving precious treatment time.
The new heart attack diagnosis system, called Lifenet™, allows paramedics to capture a 12-lead electrocardiogram (ECG) immediately and send photographs of the heart’s activity in real time via cell phone to the hospital’s emergency room “Lifenet™ Receiving Station.” Because the pre-hospital ECG is conducted at the scene of the heart attack, patients won’t have to wait until after arriving to the hospital for the diagnosis of heart attack to be made. Instead, the patient is taken directly to the cardiac catheterization laboratory to have their blocked artery opened immediately upon arrival to the hospital to relieve the heart attack.
The Lifenet process, which usually takes less than one minute, can save more than an hour in the total time it takes to receive treatment of a heart attack. This is also know an door-to-balloon time. In 2007, The Christ Hospital received Anthem’s Ohio Hospital Quality Program’s Successful Practice Award for minimizing the door-to-balloon time and maintaining the lowest time in the state of Ohio.
For more information about the Lifenet process, click here.
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