Wheaton Franciscan Healthcare-St. Francis has earned a full Atrial Fibrillation Certification, making it the first hospital in the state to achieve the new certification.
A-fib is the most common cardiac arrhythmia, and carries a stroke risk. Medical staff at St. Francis developed a protocol-driven system for emergency evaluation and treatment of patients with the condition with the goal of reducing time to treatment and decreasing length of stay in the emergency department.
In order to achieve the certification, St. Francis met or exceeded benchmarks in: emergency department integration with emergency medical services; emergency assessment of patients with atrial fibrillation; risk stratification of the atrial fibrillation patient; treatment for patients presenting to the emergency department for atrial fibrillation; atrial fibrillation discharge criteria from the emergency department, observation services or inpatient stay; atrial fibrillation patient education in the emergency department, observation services and inpatient unit; personnel, competencies and training; process improvement; organizational structure and commitment; and atrial fibrillation community outreach.
St. Francis was given a comprehensive review from an accreditation review specialist from the Society of Cardiovascular Patient Care.
The SCPC aims to help facilities evaluate and manage a-fib patients more effectively, improve patient outcomes and educate patients and health care providers about efficiently caring for the disease, which impacts almost 3 million people in the U.S.
