Providence Saint Joseph Medical Center has received the highest honor for operational excellence within the 18-hospital Providence Health System when it was awarded the 2005 President’s Award for Excellence for its speed in saving the lives of heart attack victims.

The award was presented to a multidisciplinary team of physicians and clinicians for its success in dramatically reducing the amount of time from the moment a heart attack patient arrives in the emergency department to the moment he/she receives interventional life-saving treatment in the cardiac catheterization lab.

“It’s an honor to recognize our Providence Saint Joseph colleagues,” said John Koster, M.D., President/CEO of Providence Health System. “The outstanding work accomplished by the project team benefits patients and caregivers not only at Providence Saint Joseph but throughout the Providence system as we share these best practices.”

The faster a heart attack patient can receive percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) to open his/her arteries, the more likely the patient will survive the heart attack, also known as an acute myocardial infarction (AMI). With this in mind, a team of cardiologists, emergency physicians and other clinicians instituted a standardized approach in its Code AMI plan.

Within a single year, Providence Saint Joseph Medical Center was able to nearly double its percentage of heart attack patients who receive PCI within 90 minutes of arriving in the emergency department -- from 33 percent in 2003 to 61 percent 2004. This rate exceeds the current national comparative rate of 43 percent for like hospitals.

“Improvement of our door-to-balloon time means better outcomes for patients with heart attacks,” said Boris Larreta, M.D., Medical Director of the cardiac catheterization laboratory at Providence Saint Joseph Medical Center.

Providence Saint Joseph Medical Center’s Code AMI program continues to improve. In January 2005, 67 percent of all heart attack patients received coronary intervention within 90 minutes. In February 2005, that rate increased to 80 percent.

On April 19, three heart attack victims were brought to the Providence Saint Joseph Emergency Department within a one-hour time period. All three patients received coronary intervention within 90 minutes.

“I would like to thank the nurses and techs in the emergency department and cardiac catheterization lab whose efforts made this accomplishment possible,” said Philip Schwarzman, M.D., Medical Director of the emergency department at Providence Saint Joseph Medical Center. “Caring for these patients takes teamwork, and our community can take pride in knowing they have the ‘A’ team behind them if they have a heart attack.”

Providence Saint Joseph Medical Center collaborates with Burbank City Fire Department and Los Angeles City Fire Department paramedics to treat heart attack patients faster. Starting in May, Los Angeles City Fire paramedics will transmit EKG readings of a patient in the field directly to a receiving station in the Providence Saint Joseph Emergency Department, thereby allowing for a quicker heart attack diagnosis and the ability to call the Code AMI to alert the team sooner.

Providence Health System contains 18 acute care hospitals as well as long term care, assisted living and housing facilities throughout California, Oregon, Washington and Alaska. The 2005 President’s Award for Excellence was presented by Koster on April 25 during a learning forum for Providence executives in Stevenson, Washington.