SBU Hospital Is the Only Facility on Long Island to Receive This Designation in Back-to-Back Cycles
The American College of Cardiology (ACC) has recognized Stony Brook University Hospital as the only hospital on Long Island to have achieved the prestigious Chest Pain Center with Primary Percutaneous Coronary Intervention and Resuscitation designation in 2022. The designation recognizes the high level of staff expertise and exceptional integration of the Stony Brook Cardiology Program, Emergency Medical Services and Cardiovascular Surgery Program. The accreditation also recognizes Stony Brook Medicine’s commitment to treating patients with chest pain. Stony Brook University Hospital is the only facility on Long Island to have received this accreditation during back-to-back cycles.
“Our ACC designation affirms that Stony Brook provides the most advanced and timely evidence-based heart attack or cardiac arrest care to the patients in our community,” said Robert T. Pyo, MD, director, Interventional Cardiology; medical director, Structural Heart Program and associate professor, Renaissance School of Medicine at Stony Brook University. “This can only be achieved through the exceptional skill of our cardiac and emergency services teams in offering the best quality emergency cardiac care available anywhere.”
The Chest Pain Center with Primary Percutaneous Coronary Intervention and Resuscitation designation means that Stony Brook University Hospital is optimally equipped, trained and staffed to care for patients during or after a heart attack or during a sudden cardiac arrest (when the heart malfunctions and suddenly stops beating). Patients arriving at Stony Brook University Hospital’s ER with symptoms of a cardiac emergency are treated according to quality-of-care measures that are proven to achieve better patient outcomes.
Dr. William Lawson, vice chair, Department of Medicine, Renaissance School of Medicine at Stony Brook University, noted that “Using Stony Brook’s ‘Code H’ protocol, the Stony Brook Heart Institute has reduced the amount of time between a heart-attack patient coming into the hospital to the opening and clearing of the blocked arteries with a stent or balloon-tipped catheter (angioplasty) to an average of just 54 minutes. This is a spectacular achievement, being over 30 minutes sooner than the 90 minutes or less specified in American Heart Association guidelines.”
“If you’re having a heart attack, every second counts,” said Julie Mangum, RN, Stony Brook Heart Institute’s chest pain coordinator. “The key is to get treated as quickly as possible so there is less chance of heart muscle damage. Few hospitals can offer the diagnostic testing and the complete array of on-site interventional options that are available at Stony Brook.” In addition, for patients suffering from a cardiac arrest, Stony Brook University Hospital provides a robust hypothermia program that lowers a patient’s body temperature, which allows for the best possible chance of meaningful recovery.
Hospitals that have earned ACC Chest Pain Center with Primary PCI and Resuscitation Accreditation have proven exceptional competency in treating patients with heart attack symptoms and have primary PCI (percutaneous coronary intervention) available 24/7 every day of the year. In addition, Stony Brook maintains a “No Diversion Policy” for out-of-hospital cardiac arrest patients, which means that at no time are ambulances diverted away from the Emergency Department.
“By earning this distinguished chest pain center accreditation at Stony Brook, we’re again demonstrating to Long Island that we provide the highest level of cardiac care, even in the most complex cases,” noted Hal Skopicki, MD, PhD, co-director, Stony Brook Heart Institute and the Ambassador Charles A. Gargano chair of cardiology at Renaissance School of Medicine. “When having a heart attack, it is crucial to immediately seek care from the closest and most skilled facility available. For our community, I’m proud to say, that’s Stony Brook University Hospital.”
For more information about what it means for Stony Brook Heart Institute to be the region’s only accredited Chest Pain Center, visit this link.
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