American Heart Association awards University Hospital for stroke care
USA Health University Hospital has earned three of the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association Awards designed to recognize excellence in stroke care.
By Lindsay Mott
lmott@health.southalabama.edu
USA Health University Hospital has earned three of the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association Awards designed to recognize excellence in stroke care.
“These awards confirms our dedication to providing excellent care for our stroke patients,” said Steve M. Cordina M.D., FSVIN, University Hospital comprehensive stroke center medical director and associate professor of neurology, neurosurgery and radiology. “As a Comprehensive Stroke Center caring for the most complex stroke cases, this award also reflects our team’s commitment to providing high quality standards of care to give the best possible outcomes for our stroke survivors.”
The first award, the AHA’s Get With The Guidelines®-Stroke Gold Plus Quality Achievement Award recognizes the hospital’s commitment to ensuring stroke patients receive the most appropriate treatment according to nationally recognized, research-based guidelines based on the latest scientific evidence.
University Hospital earned the award by meeting specific quality achievement measures for the diagnosis and treatment of stroke patients at a set level for a designated period. These measures include evaluation of the proper use of medications and other stroke treatments aligned with the most up-to-date, evidence-based guidelines with the goal of speeding recovery and reducing death and disability for stroke patients. Before discharge, patients should also receive education on managing their health, get a follow-up visit scheduled, as well as other care transition interventions.
University Hospital also received AHA’s Target: StrokeSM Honor Roll Elite Plus award. To qualify for this recognition, hospitals must meet quality measures developed to reduce the time between the patient’s arrival at the hospital and treatment with the clot-buster tissue plasminogen activator, or tPA, the only drug approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to treat ischemic stroke.
The third award, AHA Target: Type 2 Diabetes Honor Roll Award recognizes University Hospital for meeting specific quality measures with more than 90 % of compliance for 12 consecutive months for the “Overall Diabetes Cardiovascular Initiative Composite Score.”
“We are pleased to recognize University Hospital for their commitment to stroke care,” said Lee H. Schwamm, M.D., national chairperson of the Quality Oversight Committee and Executive Vice Chair of Neurology, Director of Acute Stroke Services, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts. “Research has shown that hospitals adhering to clinical measures through the Get With The Guidelines quality improvement initiative can often see fewer readmissions and lower mortality rates.”
University Hospital has also recently been designated as a Comprehensive Stroke Center, meeting specific scientific guidelines and featuring a comprehensive system for rapid diagnosis and treatment of stroke patients admitted to the emergency department.
According to the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association, stroke is the fifth leading cause of death and as well as one of the leading causes of adult disability in the United States. On average, someone in the U.S. suffers a stroke every 40 seconds and nearly 795,000 people suffer a new or recurrent stroke each year.
