St. Joseph Hospital has received the American Stroke Association's Get With The GuidelinesSM-Stroke Silver Plus Performance Achievement Award. The award recognizes St. Joseph Hospital's commitment and success in implementing a higher standard of stroke care by ensuring that stroke patients receive treatment according to nationally accepted standards and recommendations.
The Get With The Guidelines-Stroke Performance Achievement Award addresses the important element of time," said Sue Barnard, APRN, Trauma Nurse Coordinator and Co-Chair of St. Joseph Hospital's Stroke Program. "We have developed a comprehensive system for rapid diagnosis and treatment of stroke patients admitted to the emergency department. This includes always being equipped to provide brain imaging scans, having neurologists available to conduct patient evaluations and using clot-busting medications when appropriate".
To receive the Get With The Guidelines-Stroke Silver Plus Performance Achievement Award, St. Joseph Hospital consistently followed the treatment guidelines in the Get With The Guidelines-Stroke program for 12 consecutive months. They also received an advanced level of recognition that acknowledges them for their compliance of the Quality Measures within the Get With The Guidelines-Stroke Program. These include aggressive use of medications like tPA, antithrombotics, anticoagulation therapy, DVT prophylaxis, cholesterol reducing drugs, smoking cessation and dysphagia screening..
According to the American Stroke Association, each year approximately 795,000 people suffer a stroke - 610,000 are first attacks and 185,000 are recurrent. Every 40 seconds, someone in the United States is suffering from a stroke. This deadly condition accounts for 1 out of every 18 deaths in the United States.
For more information about the stroke care at St. Joseph Hospital, please visit www.stjosephhospital.com/Stroke-Care.