Vim & Vigor - Spring 2013 - Gwinnett Medical Center - (Page 6)

OPEN HEART SURGERY JOURNEY If you need surgery, GMC shows you what to expect, beat by beat Lisa Hollingsworth, R.N. I t may start as crushing chest pain that lands you in the emergency department. Maybe it starts with nausea, arm pain or a tingle in the jaw. Or maybe it starts innocently enough, with an electrocardiogram (EKG) reading in your doctor’s ofﬁce. As the leading cause of death for Americans, heart disease can show up in many ways. Gwinnett Medical Center has been providing cardiac care for more than 20 years and, with the addition of the Strickland Heart Center at GMC– Lawrenceville, now provides comprehensive heart care under one roof. Although not every patient who has heart disease will require open heart surgery, if your cardiologist recommends it, you can rest assured that when you have open heart surgery at the Strickland Heart Center, you are in the care of highly trained and experienced professionals from start to ﬁnish. The open heart surgery team comprises doctors, nurses and others who have decades of experience and many of whom have spent their entire careers caring for cardiac patients. “I think that our results speak for how we selected the team,” says Manfred Sandler, M.D., medical director of cardiology at GMC. “We’re doing complicated surgeries and our results have been exceptional.” In the 10 months after the program launched in January 2012, the Strickland Heart Center’s open heart surgery team performed 286 procedures and repaired an average of seven hearts a week. If you need open heart surgery, here is what you can expect. 6 SPRING 2 013 Rex B. Foster III, M.D., left, and Stephen I. Kushins, M.D., anesthesiologists BEFORE SURGERY 1 One to three days before your surgery, you undergo a preoperative interview and testing. The experts at GMC review your medical history and the surgical plan and conduct tests to determine lung function, whether your carotid arteries or leg veins are blocked, and how your heart is functioning, says Lisa Hollingsworth, R.N., an open heart coordinator who conducts surgical interviews. “I do extensive preop teaching and diagnostic testing,” Hollingsworth says. “I do a tremendous amount of teaching because educated patients do better. We try to do what we can to educate them and eliminate the stress for the patient and family.” 2 The anesthesiologist—Rex B. Foster III, M.D., or Stephen I. Kushins, M.D.—visits you to discuss the anesthesia process. Drs. Foster and Kushins specialize in cardiac anesthesia and are specially trained to provide care for open heart surgery patients: Dr. Foster has been practicing for 30 years, including time as section chief of cardiac anesthesia at St. Joseph’s Hospital of Atlanta, and Dr. Kushins did his fellowship at Duke University prior to beginning his career at GMC.

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Vim & Vigor - Spring 2013 - Gwinnett Medical Center

Vim & Vigor - Spring 2013 - Gwinnett Medical Center
Contents
Phil’s Feature
Where Lasting Weight Loss Begins
Open Heart Surgery Journey
You’re the Star
Heart-to-Heart
Lighten Up!
Have No Fear
Work It!
Diane Keaton
What Are the Chances?
9 Symptoms Never to Ignore
When Allergies Attack
Virtual Health
PrimeTime Health
Aiding Babies
Back on Top
Out of the White Coat
Transforming Healthcare

Vim & Vigor - Spring 2013 - Gwinnett Medical Center