Cath Lab Team Building @ RMH

Posted on by Kurt Jensen

In part one of our profile of Sentara Rockingham Memorial Hospital's cardiac team, we discussed how team members stepped up to to continue activating STEMI from the field and reduce the rate of false calls by educating local EMS. In this post, we'll look at Sentara RMH as an example of excellent cath lab team building from a management perspective.

How do you go about cath lab team building? You could start by getting the team out of the lab, as cardiac operations manager Linwood Williams argues.

Continue reading Cath Lab Team Building @ RMH

RMH Cardiac Team Works with Local EMS to Improve STEMI Calls

Posted on by Kurt Jensen

imageIn 2015, Sentara Rockingham Memorial Hospital in Harrisonburg, Virginia earned the American College of Cardiology's ACTION Registry®-GWTG™ Platinum Award for the second consecutive year for providing superior care to high-risk STEMI patients.

Sentara RMH was also recently awarded the American Heart Association Mission: Lifeline® Silver Award for STEMI.

An important quality consideration in the ACTION Registry, door-to-balloon time sets Sentara RMH and its cardiac team apart.

In a recent interview, cardiac operations manager Linwood Williams reported that Sentara RMH's average door-to-balloon time is 46 minutes compared to the national average of 59.2.

We reached out to Williams, an active Alliance of Cardiovascular Professionals member, to profile his excellent cardiac team and ask the question---how did they improve STEMI?

Continue reading RMH Cardiac Team Works with Local EMS to Improve STEMI Calls

Can Statins Reduce Heart Risk? – Cardiac News Round-Up

Posted on by Kurt Jensen
Statins

Statins are a big question in cardiac care.

Kaiser Permanente proudly reported last week the increased adoption of their daily statin regimen, but is the increased use of statins positive or negative?

Kaiser Permanente "ALL" quality improvement protocol increased prescription of heart and stroke risk medication regimen by 40 percent in community health centers. (Medical News Today, June 11)

The medication regimen bundles two generic drugs - a cholesterol-lowering statin and a blood pressure-lowering drug in daily doses to patients with diabetes or heart disease.

In 2009, Kaiser Permanente released a study showing that their protocol lowers the chance of hospitalization for heart attack or stroke the following year by more than 60 percent.

Statin association with memory loss in question? (MedPage Today, June 8)

Continue reading Can Statins Reduce Heart Risk? – Cardiac News Round-Up

Simple Test After Heart Attack Predicts Heart Failure

Posted on by Kurt Jensen

heartattackThe University of Glasgow presented research at the British Cardiovascular Society's annual conference, yesterday that proves a pressure- and temperature-sensitive wire inserted into a coronary artery after a heart attack can predict heart failure.

The standard assessment, a coronary angiogram, "can only identify narrowed vessels and cannot tell the doctor if, or how much, heart blood vessel damage has occurred," writes Medical News Today. Using the wire, the level of damage to arteries after a heart attack can be assessed in minutes -- a key indicator of high risk for heart failure.

The new assessment could lead to quicker treatment of patients at greatest risk for heart failure and improve outcomes.