ECHOCARDIOGRAPHY PROGRAM ACCREDITED

Clark & Daughtrey Medical Group, P.A., has received national accreditation for the high quality of its echocardiography program, which uses sound waves to diagnose heart problems.

The accreditation is a “seal of approval patients can count on,” says the Intersocietal Commission for the Accreditation of Echocardiography Laboratories (ICAEL). (Source: http://www.intersocietal.org/icael/news/patientinfo.htm)

Clark & Daughtrey cardiologist Dr. Sami Baddoura proudly displays the ICAEL accreditation certificate. Pictured with him are (from left) echo techs Janice Toole, Bonnie Patterson and Melissa Satterfield.

It accredited Clark & Daughtrey based on an application that included the medical group’s comprehensive self-evaluation.

“We reviewed everything about our program – everything – to make sure we are following best practices, meeting standards and providing the best possible care,” noted Bonnie Patterson, a certified echo technician.

She said the department worked seven days a week on the meticulous review to complete it in just two months – one-third of the normal time.

Patterson is one of four echo techs at Clark & Daughtrey. The others are Sheryl Baxley, Melissa Satterfield and Janice Toole. The cardiology department is led by registered nurse Kim Johnson. The department supports five cardiologists – Drs. Sami Baddoura, Luis Eduardo Carrillo, Avinash Khanna, Raul Lopez and Philip Owen – as well as nurse practitioners Andrea Beale, Cory Lord and Deborah Renegar, and physicians assistant Bob Perry.

The department works with some of the most advanced equipment available. No one else in Lakeland has a Philips iE33 echocardiography system, which can capture a three-dimensional image of the beating heart in less than a minute. It allows physicians to “examine the heart as if they were holding it in their hands.” (Source: Medical Imaging News; www.medicalimagingmag.com/MIN/2006-12-06_1.asp)

The iE33 is, literally, space-age technology. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) uses the machine to study why astronauts temporarily lose 5 percent of their heart mass during prolonged space flights.

Clark & Daughtrey has two of the machines, which are valued at $250,000 each.

Echocardiography is a safe, noninvasive and painless procedure. It uses high-frequency sound waves (ultrasound) to create pictures of a person’s heart that are commonly known as echocardiograms.

Physicians “read” these images, looking for abnormalities in the four chambers, the valves, the great blood vessels entering and leaving the heart, or the sack around the heart.

An accurate diagnosis depends on many things: the skill of the sonographer performing the exam, for example, the type of equipment used and the experience and knowledge of the interpreting physician.

“This accreditation by the ICAEL is a professional recognition of the outstanding medicine that our cardiology department practices every day,” said Adil Khan, Clark & Daughtrey’s chief administrative officer.

According to the ICAEL, Clark & Daughtrey is now one of 56 accredited labs in Florida. Since its founding in 1996, the ICAEL has accredited more than 700 laboratories in the United States, Puerto Rico and Canada. Accreditation lasts for three years, at which point laboratories may apply for renewal.

More information about the Intersocietal Commission for the Accreditation of Echocardiography Laboratories is available online at:  http://www.icael.org