Baton Rouge General Awarded Chest Pain Accreditation

BATON ROUGE, La. – Baton Rouge General announced today that it has earned its Chest Pain Accreditation Certification from The Joint Commission. BRG is the only hospital in Baton Rouge to receive the certification, which reflects a commitment to providing safe and effective heart care.

“Every 40 seconds someone in the U.S. has a heart attack, and surviving one depends on how a coordinated intervention is performed by an interdisciplinary team of cardiologists, emergency department physicians, nurses and ambulance staff,” said Dr. John Jones, an emergency medicine physician at Baton Rouge General. “This certification demonstrates that our team has the highest level of expertise in dealing with patients who arrive with heart attack symptoms.”

The certification evaluates how organizations use clinical outcomes and performance measures to identify opportunities to improve care. For example, BRG has partnered with local ambulance services to begin patient evaluations upon initial contact. An EKG obtained in the field is transmitted straight from the ambulance to the hospital and immediately interpreted by a physician. If the patient meets the criteria for a heart attack, the cardiologist and heart lab team are immediately deployed. That way, upon arrival, the patient can be brought directly to the cardiac catheterization lab for treatment.

“For patients suffering a heart attack, appropriate treatment should be administered within 90 minutes for the best chance of survival, according to national guidelines,” Jones added. “Through our team’s identified best practice, our intervention times are well below the national standard at about 47 minutes, which vastly improves patient outcomes.”

Established in 2002 and awarded for a two-year period, chest pain programs that receive this certification are evaluated on compliance with various standards including program management, supporting self-management, and delivering and facilitating clinical care.

“Chest Pain Accreditation Certification recognizes health care organizations committed to fostering continuous quality improvement in patient safety and quality of care,” says Mark Pelletier, RN, MS, chief operating officer, Accreditation and Certification Operations, and chief nursing executive, The Joint Commission. “We commend Baton Rouge General for using certification to reduce variation in its clinical processes and to strengthen its program structure and management framework for chest pain patients.”

The chest pain certification joins BRG’s other recent achievements in cardiology, including the advanced certification for primary stroke centers and the certification of its cardiac rehab program.

To learn more about BRG’s heart and vascular services, visit brgeneral.org/heart.

About Baton Rouge General Medical Center
Baton Rouge General Medical Center is the area’s first community hospital with 588 licensed beds between two campuses. Baton Rouge General opened its doors in 1900, and has provided the Greater Baton Rouge community with high-quality healthcare for generations. An accredited teaching hospital since 1991, Baton Rouge General serves as an affiliate of Tulane University School of Medicine, and offers other medical education programs, including a School of Nursing, School of Radiologic Technology, Family Medicine Residency Program, Internal Medicine Residency Program, and Sports Medicine Fellowship Program. For more information, visit BRGeneral.org, find us on Facebook at Facebook.com/BatonRougeGeneral and follow us on Twitter at @BRGeneral.

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