Elmhurst Hospital Center (EHC) is at the top of the charts in terms of caring for its stroke patients.
The hospital recently received the prestigious American Heart Association/American Stroke Association’s Get With The Guidelines® Stroke Gold Plus Performance Achievement Award.
The award recognized EHC for achieving 85 percent or higher adherence to all Get With The Guidelines-Stroke Performance Achievement indicators for two or more consecutive 12-month intervals and achieving 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.
“With a stroke, time lost is brain lost, and the Get With The Guidelines – Stroke Gold Plus Performance Achievement Award demonstrates Elmhurst Hospital Center’s commitment to being one of the top hospitals in the country for providing aggressive, proven stroke care,” said Chris Constantino, EHC’s executive director. “We will continue with our focus on providing 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 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 health care 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.
“Elmhurst Hospital Center is to be commended for its commitment to implementing standards of care and protocols for treating stroke patients,” said Dr. Lee H. Schwamm, chair of the Get With The Guidelines National 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.”
For more information on Get With The Guidelines, visit www.americanheart.org/getwiththeguidelines.
