Cardiac Sciences Clinical Institute

Cardiac surgery

• Cardiac surgery, or heart surgery, describes any surgical procedure that involves the heart, or the blood vessels that carry blood to and from the heart. These procedures are used to treat a variety of conditions, including, opening blocked or narrowed arteries, repairing congenital heart problems, and fixing damaged or diseased heart valves. 
• To measure our performance and ensure a high standard of quality care, our cardiac surgery results are compared with other hospitals that participate in the Australia and New Zealand Society Cardiac and Thoracic Surgeons (ANZSCTS) registry. Performance is measured by evaluating risk associated with cardiac surgery and current data indicates an overall mortality rate of <1.2 percent for all patients including emergencies. This result and those for the other key performance indicators that are measured, are consistently and significantly lower than or comparable to the national average. The other indicators include those for complications such as bleeding and wound infection.

Cardiology

Stent/angioplasty

• Coronary angioplasty and coronary artery stent placement are procedures used to open blocked heart arteries. As well as being an important treatment for heart attack these procedures may be performed to reduce symptoms such as chest pain and shortness of breath. 
• To ensure Epworth HealthCare provides a high level of quality of care, our cardiology treatment results are compared with other hospitals that participate in the Victorian Cardiac Outcomes Registry (VCOR) quality of care project.
• The main performance measure used to monitor performance of the care of PCI patients, is mortality within 30 days. This rate varies according to clinical presentation. Patients presenting with emergency conditions such as out-of-hospital cardiac arrest had the highest mortality rate; these are the most unwell patients. At the other end of the spectrum, patients presenting with low-risk clinical presentations have a much lower in-hospital mortality rate. The mortality rate at Epworth HealthCare is lower than the state average and other performance measures used to benchmark stent procedures are comparable to, or lower than the Victorian average also. These measures include bleeding and stent issues. 

TAVI (Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement)

• This procedure is used to treat aortic stenosis, an abnormal narrowing of the aortic valve, which restricts the flow of blood from heart. The procedure involves the placement of a replacement valve, without open surgery, to improve blood flow.
• Measurement of Epworth’s success is achieved via participation in a national clinical quality registry. For the key measure of mortality, Epworth HealthCare’s rate is considerably lower than the national average.
• Other minimally invasive procedures are used to treat mitral valve disease and congenital cardiac conditions.

Electrophysiology Procedures

• In addition to stent/angioplasty procedures, cardiologists perform more than 1000 electrophysiology procedures each year. These procedures include pacemakers, defibrillator implantations, electrophysiology studies and ablations to treat cardiac arrhythmias.

Cardiac rehabilitation

Current evidence suggests rehabilitation benefits all cardiac patients by reducing readmission rates, mortality and enhancing recovery. Following discharge from a cardiac procedure, Epworth provides both inpatient and outpatient support services.

Epworth’s HeartSmart Cardiac Rehabilitation Program is designed to benefit and support patients to regain full functionality following a cardiac episode. Patients are offered the choice of four separate outpatient session times each week. Three of the programs spanning a six-week period (strongly recommended for post-cardiac surgery patients) while a 3-week ‘Fast Track’ program is specifically designed for Angioplasty and Stent patients.

HeartSmart attendance costs are fully covered by most private health funds.