St. Luke's University Hospital - Bethlehem and St. Luke's Allentown Campus has announced full accreditation status as an Accredited Chest Pain Center from the Society of Cardiovascular Patient Care (SCPC). The two hospitals were the first to be accredited in the region in 2008.

To become an Accredited Chest Pain Center, St. Luke's engaged in rigorous re-evaluation and refinement of its cardiac care processes in order to integrate best practices and newest paradigms into its cardiac care processes.

"What 's so important about this accreditation is that it recognizes the efforts our staff make on a daily basis to ensure that all the measures and protocols are not only met but also continually improved upon. Having been the first hospital in the region to receive the accreditation meant that over the course of time, we have developed a standard of excellence in treating our patients resulting in better outcomes," said Gerald Pytlewski DO, Medical Director of the Chest Pain Center.

The Accredited Chest Pain Center's protocol-driven and systematic approach to patient management allows physicians to reduce time to treatment during the critical early stages of a heart attack, when treatments are most effective and to better monitor patients when it is not clear whether or not they are having a coronary event. Such observation helps ensure that patients are neither sent home too early nor needlessly admitted to the hospital.

The Accredited Chest Pain Center at St. Luke's University Hospital - Bethlehem and St. Luke's Allentown Campus has demonstrated its expertise and commitment to quality patient care by meeting or exceeding a wide set of stringent criteria and undergoing an onsite review by a team of SPCP's accreditation review specialists, according to Dr. Pytlewski.

With the increase in the number of chest pain centers came the need to establish standards designed to improve the consistency and quality of care provided to patients, according to SPSC. The accreditation process is to ensure that centers meet or exceed quality-of-care measures in acute cardiac medicine.

SCPC is an international not-for-profit organization that focuses on transforming cardiovascular care by assisting facilities in their effort to create communities of excellence that bring together quality, cost and patient satisfaction.