The Chest Pain Alert Team at Cleveland Clinic Florida is the winner of the South Florida Business Journals 8th Annual Excellence in Healthcare Award for a hospital-based program. The awards program honors healthcare providers that have successfully implemented truly creative programs and practices to meet the challenges faced by the healthcare industry in a variety of healthcare settings.
The success of the Chest Pain Alert Team at Cleveland Clinic Florida has been published and presented nationally at meetings of the American College of Cardiology and the Society for Cardiovascular Angiography and Interventions, and it is now a model for others to emulate. In addition, Cleveland Clinic Florida is one of just 173 hospitals in the United States recognized nationally by the American Heart Association/American Stroke Associations Get With the Guidelines SM (GWTG) program for its performance achievement in cardiac patient care. According to cardiologist Howard Bush, M.D., head of the Chest Pain Alert Team, some of the factors that contribute to Cleveland Clinic Floridas excellence in heart care delivery include the teams ability to mobilize quickly prior to a patient arriving on campus; the use of technology to obtain time-sensitive patient information from emergency responders; and the implementation of one universal protocol for heart attack patients based on the ACC/AHA national guidelines. One measurement tool used nationally to evaluate quality of heart care is the “door-to-balloon” time, which is the time it takes to restore blood flow to the heart once the heart attack victim arrives at the hospital. The national average “door-to-balloon” time is approximately two hours, while ACC/AHA guidelines call for under 90 minutes. Cleveland Clinic Florida has achieved some of the shortest “door-to-balloon” times in South Florida and the nation, averaging between 60 and 70 minutes.
