Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Dallas has earned the Mission: Lifeline® Bronze Plus Receiving Quality Achievement Award for implementing specific quality improvement measures outlined by the American Heart Association for the treatment of patients who suffer severe heart attacks.
Each year in the U.S., approximately 250,000 people have a STEMI, or ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction, caused by blockage of blood flow to the heart that requires time-sensitive treatment. To prevent loss of life, it’s critical to immediately restore blood flow, either by surgically opening the blocked vessel or by giving clot-busting medication.
Texas Health Dallas earned the award by meeting rigorous criteria for one to three calendar quarters. The “Plus” designation is used to differentiate those facilities where at least 75 percent of STEMI patients were transferred to them for primary percutaneous intervention (PCI) in 120 minutes or less. When it can be performed in a timely fashion, Primary PCI is the American Heart Association’s recommended triage strategy for STEMI patients.
“I am truly proud of the dedication and hard work of our clinicians to achieve the goals set forth by the American Heart Association’s Mission: Lifeline program,” said Aurora Estevez, M.D., chief medical officer at Texas Health Dallas. “This recognition highlights their continued commitment to providing quality and timely care to our patients.”
The American Heart Association’s Mission: Lifeline program helps hospitals, emergency medical services and communities improve response times so people who suffer from a STEMI receive prompt, appropriate treatment. The program’s goal is to streamline systems of care to quickly get heart attack patients from the first 9-1-1 call to hospital treatment.
Along with Texas Health Dallas, Texas Health Resources hospitals in Arlington, Bedford and Fort Worth earned recognition.
The hospitals were recognized for meeting specific criteria and standards of performance for the quick and appropriate treatment of STEMI. Before patients are discharged, they are started on aggressive risk reduction therapies such as cholesterol-lowering drugs, aspirin, ACE inhibitors and beta-blockers, and they receive smoking cessation counseling if needed.
“This recognition speaks to the quality care we deliver and represents our commitment to improving the well-being of our patients who suffer severe heart attacks,” said Barclay Berdan, FACHE, CEO of Texas Health Resources.
Texas Health Resources and the physicians on the medical staff, working through the system-wide Heart & Vascular Council, share a vision of making North Texas the vanguard of quality heart care for the state. Composed of cardiac specialists and Texas Health administrators, the Council works so that all patients in Texas Health’s 16-county service area will receive the same quality care, regardless of their location.
For more information, call 1-877-THR-WELL, or visit www.TexasHealth.org.