The Heart Institute

It was nearly 25 years ago that visionary cardiac physician leaders brought the difficult and advanced procedures, known commonly today as “open heart surgery” to St. Joseph Medical Center. Their reasoning: cardiac illness was — and still is — the leading cause of death in the United States, killing 1,000,000 annually, and therefore, state-of-the-art treatment had to be provided outside the walls of large, urban teaching institutions. This initiative was unprecedented in Maryland but at St. Joseph Medical Center, the surgeons found an administration that shared their dream to create a program that would be a national gold standard for research and heart care. Not only would St. Joseph commit to creating the best heart program in Maryland, but also would do so in a Catholic setting, always mindful of the founding Sisters’ mission to render “loving service and compassionate care to all,” regardless of ability to pay.

25 Years of Experience
From this ambitious beginning, St. Joseph Medical Center’s Heart Institute took its responsibility to its legacy very seriously, growing to become the largest cardiac program in Maryland and one of the most respected programs in the nation. With 25 years of experience behind it, The Heart Institute has created a model, unique in cardiac care programs, that allows for coordinated, fully integrated care. From the moment a patient enters the Medical Center with cardiac illness the patient falls under the care of a cardiac management team that oversees all aspects of an individual’s care throughout their hospital stay. Breaking down departmental and functional barriers with a keen focus on patient care and disease management, St. Joseph is able to uniquely provide a continuum of care matching form to function and can serve as a model of coordinated care for other Heart Institutes locally and nationally.

Centralized Heart Facilities
More than 90 percent of St. Joseph Medical Center’s 5-year, $125 million expansion was dedicated to centralized facilities for the Heart Institute. Phase I added 98,000 square feet of space adjoining the recently renovated and newly equipped catheterization labs. Tremendous attention to detail ensures not only support for the lifesaving work of surgeons, nurses and other medical professionals, but also an easy-to-navigate, comfortable experience for patients and their loved ones during what can be an otherwise difficult time .

The Heart Institute is located just to the left of the ground floor main entrance. In some critical situations, patients will likely enter the Heart Institute through the Chest Pain Evaluation Unit in the Emergency Room. In other cases and for follow-up care, patients and visitors enter through the medical center’s main entrance and experience the warm welcome that characterizes the St. Joseph brand of compassionate care.

Each beautiful element was incorporated into the design to support the overall experience for patients, as well as their families, medical professionals and hospital staff.

Accessibility and Convenience for Patient Services
Admission and registration – Heart Institute patients are welcomed at a distinctive registration area. This serves as the hub of the Institute, from which patients can be conveniently directed to appropriate areas.

Catheterization facilities – Since St. Joseph Medical Center completes more cardiac catheterization procedures than any other hospital in Maryland, this area was a natural priority in the expansion.

• 40 private rooms where cath. patients are prepared for the procedure and recover afterward. Members of the patient’s family may wait here during the procedure. The addition of these rooms frees up 18 patient rooms for other purposes.
• Four large nursing stations, each handling about 10 patients
• Six state-of-the-art catheterization labs were recently upgraded

Surgical areas - Open heart surgical suites adjoin the cath. labs for seamless transition when needed.

Keelty Waiting Room – This specially designated area serves families and other visitors of heart and thoracic surgical procedures

Chest Pain Evaluation Unit – This customized portion of the emergency room is for cardiac patients and is connected to the Heart Institute.

Technology to Enhance Personal Care
Testing Facilities - Cardiac testing using very small amounts of radioactive materials enables physicians to identify abnormalities or diagnose disease through imaging. Stress tests, in which patients “test” heart capacity by walking or running on a treadmill while being carefully monitored, are also performed here.

Clinicians analyze test results with new imaging technologies, including picture archiving and a communications system that allows rapid access to patient-related data.

Holter Room - The holter monitor, a diagnostic tool that a patient wears for 24 hours to several days outside of the hospital, is distributed and managed from this area of the Heart Institute.

Outpatient Services for Ongoing Health Needs
Survival rates after heart attacks are improved by 50 percent when patients take advantage of rehabilitation services. Fitness programs are a valuable component of contemporary management of coronary artery disease. The expanded Heart Institute features exercise equipment, health education, and lifestyle counseling to help patients achieve their wellness goals.

The program is centralized in a large, sun-lit area in which patients receive individualized attention from the cardiac rehab team and have the reassurance of exercising in a monitored setting. Patients and personnel have immediate access to diagnostic and treatment areas should an emergency situation arise.

Physical therapy areas will also be part of the new facility that will allow for expansion of diagnostic imaging capabilities including MRI, PET/CT, CT and angiography.

Inpatient Facilities for Recuperating in Comfort
Thirty new private rooms provide patients and their families ultimate comfort and ease to support the healing process. The rooms are large, with five foot wide doors accessible for bariatric patients or to allow rapid entry of a team of clinicians if necessary.

Each room has a family zone featuring space for a family member to sleep on a built-in sofa bed, clean up in a private bathroom, and read or watch TV as his/her loved one is in surgery or recuperating.

Overall, the feel of the area is that of a comfortable, small hotel rather than a hospital. Curving hallways and soft lighting are more comforting than typical hospital corridors. Elevators accessing the Heart Institute will have double cab doors so that patients and families can access rooms without traveling through other areas of the medical center.

This carefully crafted environment supports patients’ and visitors’ emotional wellbeing and thus aids the overall healing process.

Three large, fully equipped nursing stations each monitor 10 patients, providing exceptional care for individuals and enabling nurses to give focused attention to those in their area. The innovative “pod” design improves efficiency, backing nursing staff with the best structure to provide deeply personal care.

Improvements to the facility address issues of operating costs and social responsibility with infrastructure enhancements for energy conservation. Elevator upgrades and emergency power serve patients, visitors and staff.

Teams of Exceptional Professionals
Coordinated care eliminates barriers of departments or functions
Patients at St. Joseph’s can count on exceptional cardiologists—and more. In fact, each patient has a customized cardiac management team on his or her side. From the moment an individual becomes a St. Joseph cardiac patient, the substantial resources of the medical center are put in action to save that patient’s life and improve his/her health.

A patient care coordinator is the central point of contact. Depending on each patient’s needs, the cardiac management team may include physicians, nurses, surgeons, technologists, clinical educators, physicians’ assistants and/or nurse practitioners. The team coordinates patient recovery as well, staying involved well beyond initial emergency or surgical interventions.

In the hospital, physical space, technology and other systems are all designed to support the team approach and to provide a quality continuum of care for each and every patient. The proximity of the emergency department, cath. labs, surgical suites, patient rooms and rehabilitation facilities ensures seamless transitions between different stages of treatment. Communication systems facilitate the dialog among team members and enable professionals to share critical patient information.

As always, St. Joseph uses high-end technology to assist doctors. For example, pilot tele-cardiology makes patient data accessible to ambulance personnel, enabling expert and personalized care for patients in crisis even before they reach the hospital. Then, the cardiac emergency team is at the ready, armed with essential details about his /her patient.