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San Ramon Regional Medical Center has received the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association’s Get With The Guidelines – Stroke Gold Plus Quality Achievement Award with Target: Stroke Honor Roll Elite Plus.
The award recognizes the hospital’s commitment to providing treatment for stroke patients that follows nationally recognized, research-based guidelines.
San Ramon Regional earned the award by meeting specific quality achievement measures for the diagnosis and treatment of stroke patients, including the use of proper medications and treatments.
Patient care at San Ramon Regional Medical Center is focused on speeding recovery and reducing death and disability for stroke patients, and aligns with up-to-date, evidence-based standards. Before discharge from the hospital, patients also learn how to manage their health and schedule a follow-up visit.
Furthermore, San Ramon Regional was honored with the association’s Target: Stroke Honor Roll Elite Plus, as it met quality measures by reducing the time between the patient’s arrival at the hospital and treatment with the clot-buster tissue plasminogen activator (tPA), the only drug approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to treat ischemic stroke.
“We have achieved (a quality stroke program) by collaborating closely with our physicians and clinicians and by implementing the tools offered through the American Heart Association’s Get With The Guidelines-Stroke initiative,” said Ann Lucena, CEO of San Ramon Regional. “AHA’s resources help us track and measure our success in meeting evidence-based clinical guidelines to improve patient care.”
“Research has shown that hospitals adhering to clinical measures through the Get With The Guidelines quality improvement initiative often see fewer readmissions and lower mortality rates,” 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 in Boston.
Stroke is the fifth top cause of death and a leading cause of adult disability in the United States, according to the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association. On average, someone in the U.S. suffers a stroke every 40 seconds and almost 795,000 people suffer a new or recurrent stroke each year.