Ensuring Quality Life Support
UVA Heart and Vascular Center has earned the Gold Level Excellence in Life Support Award from the Extracorporeal Life Support Organization for providing lifesaving care for patients with failing hearts or lungs.
UVA received the award for its program to provide advanced life support through Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO), also known as a heart-lung machine, for patients with certain serious heart or lung conditions. To earn the award, UVA had to demonstrate the highest level of ECMO care in several areas, including:
- Quality improvement activities
- Advanced training for team members
- Staffing levels
- Equipment
- Incorporating treatment advances
- Family education and participation
- Inter-hospital transport services for ECMO patients
- Specialty and support services for ECMO patients
“Ensuring high-quality ECMO care is available whenever patients need it requires collaboration and a commitment to constant improvement in our care,” says UVA thoracic and cardiovascular surgeon Nicholas Teman, MD. “Our team – including our colleagues in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit and Pediatric Intensive Care Unit – is always focused on how to best serve our patients and their families.”
Excellence In Pulmonary Hypertension Care
The Pulmonary Hypertension Association has designated the Pulmonary Hypertension Center at the UVA Heart and Vascular Center as a Center of Comprehensive Care.
Following their site visit, surveyors from the association praised UVA’s cohesive multidisciplinary care team, including a dedicated genetic counselor and palliative care physician.
“Our hope is that the PHA accreditation raises our profile to help us better connect with healthcare professionals throughout our community and ensure that more people living with PH receive the right diagnosis early and accurately and that they will get the very best care available,” says UVA cardiologist Sula Mazimba, MD, MPH.