Heart Care
At California Pacific, we are committed to providing the highest quality of care and reporting publicly on our performance. The following comparison measurements have been chosen by federal and state agencies and other organizations as measurements of high quality medical care for some of the most common and costly conditions that hospitals treat. They measure whether important, recommended medical treatments are given to achieve the best results for patients.
Note: Our Quality data is submitted to different reporting agencies in different ways. Data/information that appear on California Pacific's Quality web pages may be assigned either to individual or combined campuses at California Pacific based on a set of complex rules, such as hospital license numbers and Medicare identification numbers.
Heart Attack Care
Timely and proper intervention can dramatically improve heart attack survival rates. Below are some of the key areas that medical experts focus on when treating patients who have a heart attack. Each of these actions is important to minimize damage to the heart, or help patients live well after they leave the hospital.
Heart Attack Care: Oct-Dec 2011
- Aspirin is an inexpensive, safe, and effective treatment for heart attack. While it is not appropriate for all patients, aspirin can help keep blood clots from forming and dissolve blood clots that can cause heart attacks.
- Use of aspirin is an inexpensive, safe, and effective way to help reduce the risk of heart attack for some patients. Taking aspirin may help prevent further heart attacks, although it is not appropriate for all patients. The risk of heart attacks can be reduced if patients are given aspirin when they leave the hospital.
- ACE (angiotensin converting enzyme) Inhibitors and ARBs (angiotensin receptor blockers) are medicines used to treat heart attacks, heart failure, or a decreased function of the heart. They can significantly reduce the risk of death after a heart attack.
- ACE Hospitals can help reduce the risk of another heart attack by giving discharged patients beta blockers, which are a type of medicine that has been shown to reduce the risk of death from a heart attack in the future.
- Studies have shown that successful balloon angioplasty in 90 minutes or less reduces the risk of death from a heart attack.
- Statins block an enzyme the body needs to produce cholesterol. As a result, LDL ("bad") cholesterol levels in the blood go down, thereby lowering total blood cholesterol levels.
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Heart Failure Care
Heart failure has been called a new epidemic that affects nearly 5 million Americans and is the top cause of hospitalization for people over the age of 65. Below are some of the key areas that medical experts focus on when treating patients hospitalized with heart failure. Each of these actions will help patients live better with the disease.
Heart Failure Care: Oct-Dec 2011
- Self-management skills and knowledge of this condition are critical factors for patients to lower their risk of death or re-hospitalization. This includes information on medications, weight monitoring, nutrition and diet, management of symptoms getting worse, and follow-up instructions.
- Hospitals perform tests, such as echocardiograms, to assess how the left chamber of the heart is pumping in a patient with heart failure. This information is collected to determine the best way to treat the patient.
- ACE (angiotensin converting enzyme) Inhibitors and ARBs (angiotensin receptor blockers) are medicines used to treat heart attacks, heart failure, or a decreased function of the heart. They can significantly reduce the risk of death after heart failure.
Links to National Databases that Report These Measures
Hospital CompareProvided by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, this site compares the quality of care provided by hospitals.
California HealthCare Foundation
This site compares how patients rate the care they received in California hospitals.
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