Las Colinas Medical Center - Irving, TX received full Cycle II accreditation status from the Accreditation Review Committee on March 9, 2009. Accreditation expires March 8, 2012.
Michael Lopez, Director of the Emergency Department at LCMC says, "Every second counts when it comes to treating a heart attack—time is muscle! This is the most important step in providing the highest quality of care when treating cardiac patients."
Heart attacks are the leading cause of death in the United States, with 600,000 dying annually of heart disease. 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. 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.
The quality of care for patients with heart attacks and cardiac disease at Las Colinas Medical Center has continually improved since the hospital began the accreditation process in October 2007. Our community expects the best in healthcare and we are continually striving to exceed the expectations. The average amount of time that passes from the moment a heart attack patient arrives at the emergency department until physicians have successfully completed the procedure to reopen a blocked artery at LCMC is 47 minutes. The national target is 90 minutes.
The Chest Pain Center’s protocol driven and systematic approach to patient management allows physicians to reduce time to treatment during the critical early stages of a heart attack, when treatments are most effective, and to better monitor patients when it is not clear whether they are having a coronary event. Such observation helps ensure that a patient is neither sent home too early nor needlessly admitted.
The Chest Pain Center at Las Colinas Medical Center has demonstrated its expertise and commitment to quality patient care by meeting or exceeding a wide set of stringent criteria and completing on-site evaluations by a review team from the Society of Chest Pain Centers. Key areas in which a Chest Pain Center must demonstrate expertise include:
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Integrating the emergency department with the local emergency medical system
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Assessing, diagnosing, and treating patients quicklyEffectively treating patients with low risk for acute coronary syndrome and no assignable cause for their symptoms
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Continually seeking to improve processes and procedures
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Ensuring Chest Pain Center personnel competency and training Maintaining organizational structure and commitment
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Having a functional design that promotes optimal patient care
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Supporting community outreach programs that educate the public to promptly seek medical care if they display symptoms of a possible heart attack
Las Colinas Medical Center, built in 1997, is a full service acute care hospital offering the latest in high-tech equipment, and friendly, competent staff. It focuses on women’s health, surgical, and cardiovascular services.
