Christian Hospital has received the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association’s Get With The Guidelines®–Stroke Bronze Performance Achievement Award. The award recognizes Christian 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.
“With a stroke, time lost is brain lost, and the Get With The Guidelines–Stroke Bronze Performance Achievement Award addresses the important element of time,” said Melanie Mueth, MD, Christian Hospital chief medical officer. Christian Hospital has 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 Bronze Performance Achievement Award, Christian Hospital consistently followed the treatment guidelines in the Get With The Guidelines–Stroke program for 90 days. These include aggressive use of medications like tPA, antithrombotics, anticoagulation therapy, DVT prophylaxis, cholesterol reducing drugs, and smoking cessation. The 90-day evaluation period is the first in an ongoing self-evaluation by the hospital to continually reach the 85 percent compliance level needed to sustain this award.
“We commend Christian Hospital for its success in implementing standards of care and protocols,” said Lee H. Schwamm, M.D., chair of the national Get With the Guidelines Steering Committee and director of the TeleStroke and Acute Stroke Services at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. “The full implementation of acute care and secondary prevention recommendations and guidelines is a critical step in saving the lives and improving outcomes of stroke patients.”