Two Providence Medical Centers Receive Top Heart Honor

Providence St. Vincent added the program in 2003 and received recognition from the AHA for the last two years.

Award winners within the hospital system are praised for their work in cardiovascular disease prevention Salem-News.com Business Report

(PORTLAND, Ore.) - The American Heart Association has again recognized Providence Portland and Providence St. Vincent medical centers for their continued work with the association’s "Get with the Guidelines" program. The program is a hospital-based quality improvement plan that uses discharge protocols to reduce the recurrence of cardiovascular disease.

This is the fourth year that Providence Portland Medical Center has received the recognition, placing it in a select group of hospitals across the nation. Providence Portland implemented the program in 2002.

Providence St. Vincent added the program in 2003 and received recognition from the AHA for the last two years.

The "Get with the Guidelines" program directs coronary patients to begin using aggressive risk reduction therapies such as cholesterol-lowering drugs, aspirin, ACE inhibitors and beta-blockers during their hospital stay. They also receive smoking cessation, nutritional information and exercise guidelines before being discharged.

"Conversations about risk reducing medications and lifestyle changes need to start in the hospital to remind the patient and family that this is very important and should not be forgotten once the patient is discharged,” explained Steven Reinhart, M.D., medical director for quality and data services for Providence Heart and Vascular Institute. “The hospital setting is the ‘golden moment’ for initiating the therapy."

The program also uses a multi-disciplinary approach to care of the patient, utilizing a team of physicians and providers to ensure prevention therapies are in place prior to the patient leaving the hospital. The team often includes cardiologists, primary care physicians, nurses, pharmacists, quality assurance personnel and discharge planners.

A program "champion" or team leader facilities the efforts of the group which builds a consensus among the team to develop and implement the correct discharge protocols for cardiovascular disease patients. Team members also counsel patients on necessary lifestyle modifications.

Cardiovascular disease outcomes at each hospital are tracked through an online interactive assessment and reporting program.

"By implementing the 'Get With the Guidelines' program, we know we are saving lives and preventing future heart attacks," said Dr. Reinhart.

The American Heart Association reports that nearly 500,000 people suffer recurrent heat attacks each year. Research shows that when a patient is discharged from the hospital with appropriate medications their risk of a second cardiac event is reduced and lives are saved.

Source: News release from Providence