Heart Attack (Acute Coronary Syndrome)
Acute Coronary Syndrome (ACS) refers to a category of clinical diseases that are characterized by chest pain caused by insufficient blood supply to the heart muscle that results from coronary artery disease (CAD). Patients with ACS may or may not be at risk for developing an acute myocardial infarction, or heart attack. 

 

Heart Failure
Heart failure, also known as congestive heart failure, can result from long-term structural or functional impairments in the heart. Onset of heart failure decreases the heart’s ability to fill and pump out an adequate amount of blood to the tissues and organs of the body. It is reported that nearly 5 million Americans live with heart failure and that the risk of acquiring heart failure doubles every decade.

 

Pneumonia
Pneumonia is a lung infection usually caused by a bacteria or virus that results in fluid build up within the lungs. However, it can be caused by inhalation of food, liquids, gases, or dust. Pneumonia is usually acquired after an upper respiratory tract infection, such as a nasal or throat infection. If this is the case, symptoms of pneumonia will start two to three days after a nasal or throat infection.

 

The Surgical Care Improvement Project’s (SCIP) goal is to save lives by reducing the incidence of surgical complications by 25 percent by the year 2010. The Surgical Care Improvement Project (SCIP) targets areas where the incidence and cost of surgical complications are high. These areas are: Surgical Site Infections (SSI), Cardiovascular complications (CV), Venous Thromboembolism (VTE) complications, Ventilator associated pneumonia . The SCIP project focuses on these four components and lists preventive measures that the team can take to reduce surgical patient morbidity and mortality. Although some surgical complications are unavoidable, surgical care can be improved through better adherence to evidence-based practice recommendations.