Our Lady of the Lake News

The Heart Center at Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center has earned Chest Pain Accreditation, Cycle III, which is the highest cycle awarded. OLOL is the only hospital in the state to achieve Cycle III Chest Pain Accreditation. This recognition means that when a patient goes to Our Lady of the Lake with chest pain, they will receive care that meets or exceeds national quality of care measures in acute cardiac medicine.

This is the second major recognition for the Our Lady of Lake Heart Center. Earlier this year the hospital was re-designated a Blue Distinction Center for Cardiac Care by the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association.

Experts say that when a stent is needed it should be placed within 90 minutes from the time a patient arrives at the hospital. At Our Lady of the Lake, the average time is 77 minutes.

In order to achieve Chest Pain Accreditation, the hospital completed a rigorous on-site evaluation by a review team from the Society of Chest Pain Centers and demonstrated expertise and commitment to quality patient care by meeting or exceeding a wide set of stringent criteria. Key areas in which a chest pain center must demonstrate expertise include:

• 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 Chest Pain Center personnel competency and training
• 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
• Integrating the emergency department with the local emergency medical system.

Our Lady of the Lake Heart Center’s protocol driven approach to patient care allows physicians to reduce time to treatment during the critical early stages of a heart attack or chest pain. This type of care and attention helps to ensure that a patient is not sent home too early or needlessly admitted to the hospital.

About Our Lady of the Lake Heart Center
Our Lady of the Lake Heart Center performs more open-heart procedures than any other Louisiana hospital. Our team includes physicians in many cardiac subspecialties including the most electrophysiologists (pacemaker and ICD experts) in the Greater Baton Rouge area. For more information on the OLOL Heart Center visit www.ololrmc.com/heart.

Our Lady of the Lake is one of the largest private medical centers in Louisiana, with over 700 licensed beds and an 11-parish service area. In a given year Our Lady of the Lake treats over 35,000 patients in the hospital and serves over 350,000 persons through outpatient locations with the assistance of more than 1,000 physicians and 4,000 team members. Our Lady of the Lake is smoke-free. For more information about OLOL visit www.ololrmc.com.

About the Society of Chest Pain Centers (SCPC)
The Society of Chest Pain Centers is a patient centric non-profit international professional organization focused upon improving care for patients with acute coronary syndromes and other related maladies. Established in 1998, the Society is dedicated to patient advocacy and focusing on ischemic heart disease. Central to its mission is the question, “What is right for the patient?” In answer, the Society promotes protocol based medicine, often delivered through a Chest Pain Center model to address the diagnosis and treatment of acute coronary syndromes, heart failure, and to promote the adoption of process improvement science by healthcare providers. To best fulfill this mission, the Society of Chest Pain Centers provides accreditation to facilities striving for optimum Chest Pain Center care. SCPC is headquartered in Columbus, Ohio. For more information on the Society of Chest Pain Centers visit www.scpcp.org, or contact Kay Styer Holmes, RN BSN MSA, Director of Accreditation Services at (614) 442-5950 or kholmes@scpcp.org.