Chest Pain Evaluation Unit

Heart attacks are the leading cause of death of the United States, with almost 500,000 dying annually of heart disease. More than five million Americans visit hospitals each year with chest pain. At AKMC approximately 3,000 patients present to the Emergency Department with chest pain each year. The Chest Pain Evaluation Unit was initially developed by AKMC to find the most efficient way to identify and treat patients and the causes of chest pain as quickly as possible. 

Once admitted to the Chest Pain Evaluation Unit, a team of emergency medicine physicians, cardiologists, nurses and technicians who specialize in cardiac care, evaluate the patients. The Unit takes a protocol-driven and systematic approach to patient management allowing physicians to reduce time to treatment during the critical early stages of a heart attack. This allows for more effective treatment and better monitoring when it is not clear whether a patient is having a coronary event. The observation in the unit helps to ensure that a patient is neither sent home too early, nor needlessly admitted. The process in the Chest Pain Evalution Unit reduces the average stay of chest pain patients from two to three days to 24 hours.

For more information on the Chest Pain Evaluation Unit at AKMC, please call Cynthia L. Ravotti, unit manager, PCU/CPEU at (724) 226-7210.