The Saint Francis Chest Pain Center is a specialized unit that evaluates patients who experience chest pain. It allows patients to receive prompt, expert care and the proper treatment when needed. Before the unit was created, patients with chest pain were admitted to the hospital for observation, sometimes for several days or even a week at a time. With the Chest Pain Center, patients can be fully evaluated much more quickly.

When you come to the Trauma Emergency Center with chest pain, you are given an EKG examination and blood tests are taken. When the results are received, you are transferred to the Chest Pain Center.

A second blood test is performed eight hours later. If both tests indicate a heart attack has NOT occurred, you will undergo a stress test, which helps to further rule out any heart problems. You may stay at the Chest Pain unit less than 24 hours.

If tests show you have experienced a heart attack, you may undergo a cardiac catheterization to determine if your heart has been damaged. All patients in the Chest Pain Center wear special devices called telemetry monitors, which allow constant monitoring of heart rate and rhythm.