Cardiovascular diseases pose a great threat to people of modern countries and have been one of the leading causes of death in Taiwan. Early diagnosis, effective treatment, and prevention of disease development have been our essential goals. Far Eastern Memorial Hospital (FEMH) takes cardiovascular medicine as one of the core competences. We are fully engaged in providing high-quality and holistic care to patients whoever and whenever needed. Our main mission is to fulfill the duty of improvement of public health, and our vision is to become a first-choice cardiovascular medical center.

FACILITIES AND FEATURES

Our facilities consist of 48 beds of general ward, 20 beds of coronary care unit, and 3 catheterization labs with 3 bi-plane fluoroscopes and 1 set of electrophysiological polygraph system. Our team provides 24-hour primary coronary intervention and offers the optimal and fastest revascularization for patients of acute myocardial infarction. We are the first team to holistically advocate the trans-radial approach for coronary intervention, which alleviates the patient’s suffering and facilitates the healing of puncture wound. The trans-radial approach is now carried out in >95% cases of coronary intervention at our catheterization labs. We are the first institute to initiate program of telephonic-ECG and telephonic-medical care, which record and transmit the patient’s event ECG within 30 seconds via a simple telephone call. The patient can benefit from our immediate response based on the transmitted ECG. We also offer Enhanced External Counter Pulsation (EECP) to alleviate the suffering of patients of severe coronary artery disease and refractory heart failure.

MAJOR ACHIEVEMENTS

We have made several innovations in clinical services and programs of quality improvement. We are the pioneer of telephonic-medicine by establishing the first center of telephonic-ECG in Taiwan. We also make remarkable progress in shortening the door-to-balloon time in treating patients of acute myocardial infarction. We also integrate relevant research institutes, such as the Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI), Oriental Institute of Technology (OIT) and Yuan-Ze University, and we plan to participate in the U-Care Project launched by the Ministry of Economic Affairs, Taiwan.

THE FUTURE

We will continuously improve our quality by upgrading the hardware and participating in Joint Commission International (JCI)/DSC. We will abide by the policy of the government by developing preventive medicine and comprehensive home care. We will recruit more staff to establish more sophisticated sub-specialties. We will usher modern and innovative technologies by keeping fluent international communications. In the near future, we will conduct an integral project to provide total resolution for heart failure, which includes the establishment of special clinic, programs of cardiac rehab and comprehensive follow-up with telephonic-medicine.