Chest Pain Center
If you or someone you're with has chest discomfort, call 9-1-1 and get to a hospital immediately.
Washington Adventist Hospital is one of three hospitals in Montgomery County designated as an accredited Chest Pain Center. This means that our patient care procedures have been approved and recognized as exceeding the rigid standards set by the national Society of Chest Pain Centers and Providers.
In order to achieve Chest Pain Center status, our hospital had to successfully satisfy the Society's requirements in the following five areas:
- Clinical Processes
- Quality of Care
- Competency and ongoing training of staff and physicians
- Interaction with EMS
- Community education
Our approach allows physicians to reduce time to treatment during the critical early stages of a heart attack, when treatments are most effective. All of our Center employees have received intensive training in recognizing the symptoms of Acute Coronary Symptoms (ACS) and have implemented a process to streamline our patient's path to care. The standardized procedures ensure that all patients presenting with a potential heart attack symptom undergo the same screening process, including an EKG within 10 minutes of a patient's arrival.
| Did You Know? - Heart Attack Warning Signs |
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Chest discomfort. Most heart attacks involve discomfort in the center of the chest that lasts more than a few minutes, or that goes away and comes back. It can feel like uncomfortable pressure, squeezing, fullness or pain.
Discomfort in other areas of the upper body. Symptoms can include pain or discomfort in one or both arms, the back, neck, jaw or stomach.
Shortness of breath. May occur with or without chest discomfort.
Other signs: These may include breaking out in a cold sweat, nausea or lightheadedness.
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As with men, women's most common heart attack symptom is chest pain or discomfort. But women are somewhat more likely than men to experience some of the other common symptoms, particularly shortness of breath, nausea/vomiting, and back or jaw pain. - American Heart Association