When Every Minute Counts

If you are having chest pains or symptoms of a heart attack, there is no time to lose.  Now Paoli Hospital has been accredited as a Chest Pain Center by the Society of Chest Pain Centers (SCPC).

What that means for patients is faster diagnosis and treatment for patients who are having chest pain. 

Dr. Elliot Gerber is the Medical Director of the Paoli Hospital Cardiac Catheterization lab. He says the designation is recognition of the hospital's efforts to streamline the treatment of heart patients from the time they call 9-1-1 to the time doctors stop a heart attack. The critical window is 90 minutes.

According to a news release from Main Line Health "to become an accredited chest pain center, Paoli Hospital participated in a rigorous evaluation by SCPC for its ability to assess, diagnose, and treat patients who may be experiencing a heart attack."

Dr. Gebrer tells Patch that means a patient's treatment starts as soon as EMT's or Paramedics arrive on the scene. He explains the EMT's can hook up an EKG to a patient before they even get into an ambulance. Doctors at the hospital receive and interpret the EKG before the ambulance arrives at the hospital so the he Emergency Room and cardiac staffs know what to expect.

If the EKG indicates a patient is having a heart attack or may have blocked arteries, they can go right to the catheterization lab. That's where Gerber and other cardiologists inject die into a patient's blood stream to take x-rays of the blood flow to the heart. If there is a blockage, doctors can use a device that's about as thin a two human hairs to open a blocked artery and allow blood to flow to the heart.

Gerber says streamlining the patient evaluation and treatment process from the time the ambulance arrives to the time a blocked artery is opened can make all the difference in surviving a heart attack.

The hospital's new designation as an accredited chest pain center is the result of a lot of work among many departments and came after a rigorous process, that included proving how fast medical teams within the hospital work together to get a patient treated and education. 

Dr. Geber says educating the public about the importance of acting quickly when symptoms arise has helped reduce fatalities.

Click on the clips to watch the TE Patch interview with Dr. Gerber.

For more on the hospital's new Chest Pain Center accreditation and SCPC click here.