Jordan Hospital has received the Get with the Guidelines Stroke Gold Quality Achievement Award from the American Heart Association. The award marks the fifth year in a row that Jordan Hospital has been recognized for commitment and success in implementing a higher standard of stroke care by ensuring that stroke patients receive treatment according to nationally accepted guidelines.
To receive the award, Jordan Hospital achieved 85 percent or higher adherence to all Get with the Guidelines-Stroke Performance Achievement indicators for two or more consecutive 12-month intervals and achieved 75 percent or higher compliance with six of 10 Get with the Guidelines-Stroke Quality Measures, which are reporting initiatives to measure quality of care.
These measures include aggressive use of medications, such as tPA, antithrombotics, anticoagulation therapy, DVT prophylaxis, cholesterol reducing drugs and smoking cessation, all aimed at reducing death and disability and improving the lives of stroke patients.
With a stroke, time lost is brain lost, and the American Heart Associations Get with the Guidelines Stroke Gold Performance Achievement Award demonstrates Jordan Hospitals commitment to being one of the top hospitals in the region and the United States for providing aggressive, proven stroke care, Jane Stiles, R.N., emergency medical services and stroke coordinator at Jordan Hospital, said. We will continue with our focus on providing exceptional care that has been shown in the scientific literature to quickly and efficiently treat stroke patients with evidence-based protocols.
Get with the Guidelines Stroke helps Jordan Hospitals staff develop and implement acute and secondary prevention guideline processes to improve patient care and outcomes. The program provides hospitals with a web-based patient management tool, best practice discharge protocols and standing orders, along with a robust registry and real-time benchmarking capabilities to track performance.
Recent studies show that patients treated in hospitals participating in the American Heart Associations Get with the Guidelines-Stroke program receive a higher quality of care and may experience better outcomes, Lee H. Schwamm, M.D., chairman of the Get with the Guidelines National Steering Committee and director of the TeleStroke and Acute Stroke Services at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, said. The Jordan Hospital team is to be commended for its commitment to improving the care of its patients.
Following stroke treatment guidelines, patients are started on aggressive risk-reduction therapies including the use of medications such as tPA, antithrombotics and anticoagulation therapy, along with cholesterol reducing drugs and smoking cessation counseling. These are all aimed at reducing death and disability and improving the lives of stroke patients. Hospitals must adhere to these measures at a set level for a designated period of time to be eligible for the achievement awards.
Get with the Guidelines Stroke uses the teachable moment, the time soon after a patient has had a stroke, when they are most likely to listen to and follow their healthcare professionals guidance. Studies demonstrate that patients who are taught how to manage their risk factors while still in the hospital reduce their risk of a second heart attack or stroke.
According to the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association, stroke is one of the leading causes of death and serious, long-term disability in the United States. On average, someone suffers a stroke every 40 seconds; someone dies of a stroke every four minutes; and 795,000 people suffer a new or recurrent stroke each year.
Think its a stroke? Act F-A-S-T. Where stroke is concerned, time is of the essence. Every second, brain cells can die. The sooner you recognize the signs and act, the more likely you are to minimize a strokes effects. Is it a stroke? Check these signs fast.
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Jordan Hospital receives national recognition for stroke care