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West Houston Medical Center's Cardiac POCT "movers and shakers" share their success (left to right); Jeff Holland, CEO; Noemi Melendres, Quality Control Initiatives Specialist (Siemens Medical Solutions Diagnostics); Bhakti Desai, Director of Laboratory Services; Kate Higgins, Cardiovascular Champion; Lori Litzinger, Director of Emergency Services; Brent Saetrum, MD, Medical Director of Emergency Services; Oscar R. Mangini, MD, Medical Director of Laboratory; Van Upton, Chemistry Supervisor; Randy Daniel, Siemens Healthcare Diagnostics Vice President.
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West Houston Medical Center is a progressive, full-service hospital offering a full range of medical and surgical services as well as specialty support. West Houston has 219 beds with a wide-range of services ranging from a 24-hour Emergency Services to an active Seniors program. Over 10,000 people were admitted to West Houston Medical Center in 2004 with more than 36,000 people visiting for Emergency Services.
West Houston Medical Center's Emergency Services has recently expanded to a 24 bed capacity and currently spans 15,000 square feet. In the past three years, the hospital has undergone a complete renovation of the patient care areas, including the addition of all new patient furniture and décor. The hospital is currently undergoing renovations and upgrades to the facility, including the addition of a new professional medical office building, and phased additions of Surgical, Endoscopy, ICU and Medical Surgical areas.
The West Houston Cardiovascular Center has continued to be their premier service handling over 2,000 cath laboratories, cardiovascular, and vascular procedures on patients from the Greater Houston area, Texas and the region. The first 2 quarters of 2005 has shown a 0% mortality rate for West Houston Medical Center's coronary artery bypass surgery. The hospital was the first in Texas and third in the Nation to be accredited as a Chest Pain Center.
West Houston Poster Society of Chest Pain Centers:
The center is very involved with a national chest pain registry (AMC) and scrutinizes cardiac testing processes on a monthly basis to ensure that the ED's goals are being met. Process improvement is a "constant" at West Houston. Since implementing cardiac Point-of-care-testing (POCT) in the Emergency Department, West Houston has reduced its turn-around-time (TAT) for cardiac biomarker test results from 60 minutes to 22-24 minutes. TAT is expected to drop further once connectivity with the center's laboratory information system has been established. "Implementation of ED POCT for cardiac biomarkers is the result of a huge push by a multidisciplinary team," said cardiovascular champion, Kate Higgins. "We went through a lot of trials and tribulations getting the POCT program up and running and learned a lot of lessons. We have truly earned Siemens recognition as a Center of Excellence by virtue of the work we have done."
For more information on West Houston Medical Center, visit www.westhoustonmedical.com. |
