A Heart Hospital Within A Hospital

Center-for-Cardiovascular-MedicineFrom the Summer 2012 StayHealthy publication

This innovative new Center boasts a highly skilled team of cardiologists, cardiovascular surgeons, interventional radiologists, nurses, and technicians.

Fluid

Sometimes referred to as a "heart hospital within a hospital," the Center for Cardiovascular Medicine is located on the hospital's first floor and has its own entrance. When planning for the new regional hospital, careful consideration was given to the Center's location. At the Center, it's important that the services that complement cardiology are easily accessible. The Center is close to diagnostic imaging, the lab and the emergency department. It has a dedicated elevator that goes to the surgery suites on the second floor, two of which are dedicated to cardiac surgery. Within the new Center, patients don't have to traverse the entire hospital to get the appropriate test or procedure and they can get in and out more quickly.

Another efficiency that is included in the new Center for Cardiovascular Medicine is the easy registration process. The Center includes its own registration area, making it much more convenient for patients. If someone is coming to the hospital specifically for cardiac services, they preregister by telephone and just come through the separate entrance. Additionally, the person who initially greets the patient will "follow" that patient through their course of care in the Center.

Expansive

Patients coming to the Center will find a large pre- and post-operative area where they can have privacy while awaiting their procedure.

At the former hospital, there were only three treatment bays, which were separated by curtains. Now there are 12 private bays and a curtained area with three recliners dedicated for infusion treatments. There are four sophisticated procedure labs. Of those, the number of cardiac catheterization labs (cath labs) has grown to four labs with expansion space set aside for two more. One lab is specifically designed for electrophysiology procedures housing the biplane x-ray system. The fourth laboratory is primarily for vascular procedures or transesophageal cardiac ultrasound and cardioversion.

Dedicated

As part of the streamlining of procedures, the staff at the Center has received extensive training and a great deal of cross-training with the team members becoming more involved in a wider number of tasks.

Also included in the Center is Porter's award-winning Heart Failure Clinic and the highly acclaimed Heart Valve Center. Recognized for excellence in cardiovascular care, the Center for Cardiovascular Medicine has received a Get With The Guidelines- Heart Failure Silver Award from the American Heart Association and perfect scores on the national Core Quality Measures for treatment of patients with heart failure. And we are proud to announce that we were recently awarded certification as an Accredited Chest Pain Center.

This innovative new Center boasts a highly skilled team of cardiologists, cardiovascular surgeons, interventional radiologists, nurses and technicians.