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Michele Hughes, a clinical specialist in the Department of Cardiology at the Sierra Nevada Memorial Hospital, and Dr. John Mallery, medical director of the cardiology department, demonstrate an echocardiogram by scanning Christine Mendoza, a hospital employee.
The echocardiography laboratory at Sierra Nevada Memorial Hospital is among the first 1,000 labs of its kind in North America to receive accreditation from a Maryland-based accrediting group.
“What this means for patients is that they are getting the highest quality of treatment,” Sue Urban, director of the local cardiology department, said. “We’ll be sending a lot our results to (the accrediting group) for them to see if we’re meeting their standards. It’s an ongoing process.”
The only other echo labs in Northern California to receive similar accreditation are those at Stanford University and the University of California, San Francisco, said Michele Hughes, clinical specialist at the hospital’s cardiology department said.
The Intersocietal Commission for the Accreditation of Echocardiog-raphy Laboratories is a private group comprising the American College of Cardiology, the American Society of Echocardiography, Society of Diagnostic Medical Sonography and Society of Pediatric Echocardiography.
“This accreditation is the most prestigious recognition that an echo lab can attain in this country at present,” Hughes added.
An echocardiogram uses sound waves to produce an image of the heart, allowing physicians to see how the heart is beating and pumping blood. By doing an echocardiogram, “we can look at any coronary artery disease, valve disease or any disease of the heart muscle itself,” Hughes said.
The echo lab at Sierra Nevada Memorial Hospital serves 1,500 to 2,000 patients every year, Hughes said. Patients range from newborns to centenarians, she added.
To contact the staff at the hospital’s echocardiogram laboratory, call 274-6130.
To contact Soumitro Sen, e-mail ssen@theunion.com or call 477-4229.
“What this means for patients is that they are getting the highest quality of treatment,” Sue Urban, director of the local cardiology department, said. “We’ll be sending a lot our results to (the accrediting group) for them to see if we’re meeting their standards. It’s an ongoing process.”
The only other echo labs in Northern California to receive similar accreditation are those at Stanford University and the University of California, San Francisco, said Michele Hughes, clinical specialist at the hospital’s cardiology department said.
The Intersocietal Commission for the Accreditation of Echocardiog-raphy Laboratories is a private group comprising the American College of Cardiology, the American Society of Echocardiography, Society of Diagnostic Medical Sonography and Society of Pediatric Echocardiography.
“This accreditation is the most prestigious recognition that an echo lab can attain in this country at present,” Hughes added.
An echocardiogram uses sound waves to produce an image of the heart, allowing physicians to see how the heart is beating and pumping blood. By doing an echocardiogram, “we can look at any coronary artery disease, valve disease or any disease of the heart muscle itself,” Hughes said.
The echo lab at Sierra Nevada Memorial Hospital serves 1,500 to 2,000 patients every year, Hughes said. Patients range from newborns to centenarians, she added.
To contact the staff at the hospital’s echocardiogram laboratory, call 274-6130.
To contact Soumitro Sen, e-mail ssen@theunion.com or call 477-4229.
