Palm Beach Gardens Medical’s Chest Pain Center Receives Reaccreditation for Three Years

Palm Beach Gardens, Fla. (November 24, 2015) – Palm Beach Gardens Medical Center earns full Chest Pain Center with Percutaneous Coronary Intervention (PCI) Accreditation from the Society of Cardiovascular Patient Care (SCPC) for showing expertise in assessing, diagnosing and treating heart attack patients quickly. The new certification, which covers 2015-2018, was also previously achieved from 2012-2015.

“Palm Beach Gardens Medical Center strives to set the standard for cardiac care in Palm Beach County,” said Jeffrey M. Welch, hospital chief executive officer. “The reaccreditation of our Chest Pain Center demonstrates our continuous commitment to providing the community with high quality care based on current protocol-driven research.”

As an Accredited Chest Pain Center, Palm Beach Gardens Medical Center’s evidence-based systematic approach to cardiac patient care may allow clinicians to reduce time to treatment during the critical early stages of a heart attack. Chest pain centers can do a better job at monitoring patients when it is not clear whether or not a patient is having a coronary event. Such monitoring ensures patients are neither sent home too early nor needlessly admitted.

To receive accreditation, Palm Beach Gardens Medical Center met or exceeded a wide set of stringent criteria and underwent a comprehensive on-site review by a team of accreditation review specialists. Receiving SCPC’s CPC with PCI Accreditation status means that the hospital has achieved a higher level of expertise in dealing with patients who arrive with symptoms of a heart attack. It also conveys that Palm Beach Gardens emphasizes the importance of standardized diagnostic and treatment programs that provide more efficient and effective evaluation, as well as more appropriate and rapid treatment of patients with chest pain and other heart attack symptoms. In addition, the hospital serves as a point of entry into the healthcare system to evaluate and treat other medical problems, and helps to promote a healthier lifestyle in an attempt to reduce the risk factors for heart attack.

Palm Beach Gardens Medical Center demonstrated expertise in the following areas:

• Integrating the emergency department with the local emergency medical system
• Assessing, diagnosing, and treating patients quickly
• Effectively treating patients with low risk for acute coronary syndrome and no assignable cause for their symptoms
• Continually seeking to improve processes and procedures
• Ensuring the competence and training of Accredited Chest Pain Center personnel
• Maintaining organizational structure and commitment
• Having a functional design that promotes optimal patient care
• Supporting community outreach programs that educate the public to promptly seek medical care if they display symptoms of a possible heart attack

As the first hospital in Palm Beach County and the Treasure Coast to perform open-heart surgery, The Heart & Vascular Institute at Palm Beach Gardens Medical Center remains one of the area’s top heart hospitals. With a team that consists of highly skilled cardiologists, cardiothoracic surgeons, nurses, physical therapists, respiratory therapists, dietitians, pharmacists and other clinical staff, the hospital has performed over 16,000 open-heart surgeries and more than 100,000 cardiac catheterizations to date. To learn more about Palm Beach Gardens Medical Center’s cardiac services, visit www.pbgmc.com/our-services/heart.