Are you “Choosing Wisely” with Cardiac Imaging?

Posted on by Kurt Jensen

Results are in from the Choosing Wisely initiative - a campaign designed to reduce the use of frequent tests deemed "low value" - like cardiac imaging.

A recently published study from JAMA Internal Medicine examining the frequency and trends of services from 2012 Choosing Wisely recommendations across 25 million Anthem health plan members found statistically significant reductions in cardiac imaging and other "low value" services.

Some context: many uses of cardiac imaging were deemed "low value" by the ACC in 2012.

The American College of Cardiology contributed to some of the earliest Choosing Wisely recommendations from 2012 - the recommendations that this study tracked. One of these recommendations has since been withdrawn due to new science, but the four that remain relate to cardiac imaging.

They are:

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Taylor Swift in the Cath Lab? Music in the Cath Lab Debate

Posted on by Kurt Jensen

Does music play during procedures in your lab? Who chooses the music?

A recent study published in the Aesthetic Surgery Journal found that "when plastic surgeons listen to music they prefer, their surgical technique and efficiency when closing incisions is improved," says a University of Texas Medical Branch press release.

While many studies have been conducted supporting the idea that music reduces stress and promotes efficiency for operating room staff, this study adds to a more limited evidence base that suggests music can improve technical performance and speed of a procedure.

Why does it matter? Reducing the time of a procedure can lead to significant cost savings, of course, and in cardiac emergencies where "time is muscle," promoting procedure efficiency is key to providing quality care.

But should the cardiologist control music in the cath lab?

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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.

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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?

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