The Heart and Vascular Center at University of Maryland Shore Regional Health has received the Mission: Lifeline® Gold Plus Receiving Quality Achievement Award for implementing specific quality improvement measures outlined by the American Heart Association for the treatment of patients who suffer severe heart attacks.The Cardiac Intervention Center, located in UM Shore Medical Center at Easton, has been in operation since February 2018.
Winning this award required the CIC to meet specific criteria and standards of performance for quick and appropriate treatment through emergency procedures to re-establish blood flow to blocked arteries in heart attack patients coming into the hospital directly or by transfer from another facility.
“We are proud to have met these guidelines outlined by Mission: Lifeline®. The national target for these patients entering a facility and having blood flow restored, or ‘Door to Balloon’ time, is 90 minutes. Shore Regional Health’s cardiologists and Cardiac Intervention Team are meeting that target time and then some. We are achieving ‘door to balloon’ times of under 60 minutes more than 98 percent of the time,” says Stephen Eisemann, interim director, Heart and Vascular Center, UM SRH.
UM Shore Medical Center at Easton was issued a four-year accreditation as a Cardiac Intervention Center in 2019 following a Maryland Institute for Emergency Medical Services Systems (MIEMSS) survey.
Every year, more than 250,000 people experience an ST elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI), the deadliest type of heart attack, caused by a blockage of blood flow to the heart that requires timely treatment.
The American Heart Association’s Mission: Lifeline®program’s goal is to reduce system barriers to prompt treatment for heart attacks. The initiative provides tools, training and other resources to support heart attack care.
“This is a wonderful accomplishment that takes tremendous dedication and sacrifice from all those involved,” says Eisemann. “The award is made possible by the collaboration between our emergency departments and other units within our hospitals, and our emergency medical services teams throughout our five-county region. These team efforts are vital to patient survival.”
According to Eisemann,EMS team members evaluate patients during transport to initiate treatment and to activate the Cath Lab Call Team process. At UM Shore Medical Center in Easton, cardiac interventionists work quickly with a team of nurses and technologists to perform emergent percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). PCI is a minimally invasive procedure that opens up blood vessels in the heart that have been narrowed by plaque buildup.
Before the CIC designation in 2018, patients in the region experiencing STEMI heart attacks (ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction) were transferred to the closest CIC that offered treatments for this type of heart attack, which occurs in about 15 to 20 percent of all heart attack patients. Many STEMI heart attack patients were transported by ambulance or helicopter to hospitals in Annapolis, Salisbury, Delaware or Baltimore. Travel times alone pushed the boundaries of the desired target time of under 90 minutes, and optimally within 60 minutes.
“Having the Cardiovascular Intervention Center— and particularly providing primary PCI treatments — is a rare gift to a rural area,” says Dr. Jeffrey Etherton,medical director, Interventional Cardiology, UM SRH. “Every minute counts when it comes to patient survival. I am so proud of our CIC teams and so grateful for community partnerships like the ones we have with Emergency Medical Services in our five county-region.”
Eisemann said Shore Regional Health is dedicated to providing quality care for heart attack patients.
“Our program is unique because we are providing services to three acute care hospitals and four emergency departments. Our ability to provide this high level of care to our community is completely dependent on ensuring that these services are available 24/7, 365 by our dedicated staff, who are always on call, to respond within 30 minutes of a STEMI emergency.”
About UM Shore Regional Health: As part of the University of Maryland Medical System (UMMS), University of Maryland Shore Regional Health is the principal provider of comprehensive health care services for more than 170,000 residents of Caroline, Dorchester, Kent, Queen Anne’s and Talbot counties on Maryland’s Eastern Shore. UM Shore Regional Health’s team of more than 2,600 employees, medical staff, board members and volunteers work with various community partners to fulfill the organization’s mission of Creating Healthier Communities Together.
Dr. Jeffrey Etherton, medical director, Interventional Cardiology, UM SRH
Dr. Gabriel Sardi, interventional cardiologist
Dr. Ivan Pena Sing, interventional cardiologist
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