06 JUL 2015

NorthBay Earns Chest Pain with PCI Accreditation

pci

NorthBay Medical Center in Fairfield is only the fifth hospital in the country to earn accreditation as a Chest Pain Center with PCI (Percutaneous Coronary Intervention) under new standards issued by the Society of Cardiovascular Patient Care.

"That means if you have a heart attack in Solano County, NorthBay Medical Center has all the tools and the very best team in place to care for you," said Laura McGuire, cardiovascular patient care program manager.

McGuire has spent the past year working on NorthBay's submission to the Society of Cardiovascular Patient Care, especially focused on earning the organization approval under the society's new "Version 5" standards.

"The society is always improving and upgrading their standards, and this year Version 5 puts more emphasis on how hospitals deal with low-risk cardiac patients, especially patients in our hospital who come in for other reasons, but have a cardiac event in our facility," explained McGuire. "We've spent time focusing on our process and improving our responses for those patients."

The team also developed a strategy for serving low-risk patients as out-patients after their discharge, instead of bringing them back into the facility for observation.

Two surveyors from Ohio spent a full day July 1 at NorthBay Medical Center, interviewing nearly 30 NorthBay staff and talking with representatives from Medic Ambulance and Solano County Emergency Medical Services.

"We have wonderful collaboration here with our EMS network," said McGuire. "We really appreciate the support from other EMS providers in our community."

According to Mary Dickey, NorthBay's director of Licensure and Accreditation, the surveyors were impressed with the facility, the process and most importantly, the people.

"You can feel the positive and caring culture when you walk through the door," wrote one surveyor in the report.

NorthBay Medical Center became a Chest Pain Center in 2009, and in 2011 became a receiving center for STEMIs, which stands for ST Elevation Myocardial Infarction, also known as the most serious of heart attacks.

The status was raised in 2012 when the facility earned its first three-year accreditation as a Chest Pain Center with PCI. PCI is a minimally invasive procedure performed in catheterization labs by interventional cardiologists. They use small incisions and a catheter to open blocked blood vessels in the heart, using balloon angiography and stents to keep arteries open and allow blood flow.

"The accreditation shows that we hold ourselves to a higher standard, that NorthBay meets or exceeds national guidelines when it comes to caring for our cardiac patients," said McGuire.

You Might Also Like:

NorthBay Takes Reins of Urgent Care Top-notch care, better access is our promise to you. Posted: March 4, 2024
What’s the Right Choice? When is Urgent Care, Emergency Care or Primary Care the answer? Posted: March 4, 2024
NorthBay’s Medical Mission to the Philippines Surgeons, nurses join Bay Area team caring for rural patients. Posted: March 4, 2024

Get the best of NorthBay Healthcare News sent to you.

Never miss our latest health tips, or our best stories, by signing up for NorthBay Pulse today.

Are you a news professional looking to access our facilities, health care experts, or news team?