Met Numerous Treatment Guidelines
Wyckoff Heights Medical Center (WHMC), a designated stroke center since the program’s inception in 2003, has earned the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association’s Get With The Guidelines-Stroke Gold Plus Quality Achievement Award.
As described, the award recognizes WHMC’s commitment and success in implementing outstanding care for stroke patients, based upon evidence-based guidelines and nationally accepted standards. In 2011, WHMC was the recipient of the Stroke Silver Award, making it two consecutive years that the hospital has been recognized.
To receive the Stroke Gold Plus Quality Achievement Award, Wyckoff Heights achieved at least 85 percent adherence to all Get With The Guidelines-Stroke Quality Achievement indicators for 24 consecutive months, and achieved at least 75 percent compliance with six of 10 Get With The Guidelines-Stroke Quality Measures, which are reporting initiatives to measure quality of care.
These measures include the appropriate and aggressive use of tPA (“clot-busting” medication), antithrombotics, anticoagulants, DVT prevention measures, cholesterol reducing medications and smoking cessation counseling, all aimed at reducing death and disability and improving the lives of stroke patients.
“With a stroke, time lost is brain lost, and the Get With The Guidelines- Stroke Gold Plus Quality Achievement Award demonstrates Wyckoff Heights Medical Center’s commitment to being one of the top hospitals in the country for providing aggressive, proven stroke care,” said Dr. Anil Mendiratta, the medical director of the stroke program. “We will continue with our focus on providing care that has been proven in the scientific literature, in order to ensure that the members of our Brooklyn and Queens communities receive the best possible care.”
“Wyckoff Heights Medical Center is to be commended for its commitment to implementing standards of care and protocols for treating stroke patients,” said Lee H. Schwamm, M.D., 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 pa- tients.”
“Wyckoff Heights Medical Center recognizes that the time is right to be focused on providing outstanding stroke care, as the number of acute ischemic stroke patients eligible for treatment is expected to grow over the next decade due to increasing stroke incidence and a large aging population,” said Gustavo Del Toro, MD, chief medical officer.
According to the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association, stroke is one of the leading causes of death and serious, longterm 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.
Learn more about stroke awareness at www.stroke.org/awareness.
