NANTICOKE MEMORIAL HOSPITAL RECEIVES GET WITH THE GUIDELINES-STROKE GOLD PLUS QUALITY ACHIEVEMENT AWARD

Nanticoke Memorial Hospital has received the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association’s Get With The Guidelines®–Stroke Gold Plus Quality Achievement Award. The award recognizes Nanticoke’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. This compliments Nanticoke’s Advanced Certification as a Primary Stroke Center, continuously since 2009, from The Joint Commission.

“With a stroke, time lost is brain lost, and the Get With The Guidelines–Stroke Gold Plus Quality Achievement Award addresses the important element of time,” said Edward M. Hendricks, FNP-BC, Stroke Coordinator, Nanticoke Memorial Hospital. “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.”

To receive the Get With The Guidelines-Stroke Gold Plus Quality Achievement Award, Nanticoke achieved 85 percent or higher adherence to all Get With The Guidelines-Stroke Quality Achievement indicators for two or more consecutive 12-month intervals and achieved 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.

These measures include aggressive use of medications, such as tPA, antithrombotics, anticoagulation therapy, DVT prophylaxis, cholesterol reducing drugs and smoking cessation, all aimed at reducing death and disability and improving the lives of stroke patients.

“Nanticoke Memorial Hospital 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 patients.”

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 healthcare 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. Through Get With The Guidelines–Stroke, customized patient education materials are made available at the point of discharge, based on patients’ individual risk profiles. The take-away materials are written in an easy-to-understand format and are available in English and Spanish. In addition, the Get With The Guidelines Patient Management Tool provides access to up-to-date cardiovascular and stroke science at the point of care.

According to the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association, stroke is one of the leading causes of death and serious, long-term 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.

Nanticoke Health Services features an award winning, full-service community hospital. Nanticoke Memorial Hospital is ranked number one in Delaware and among America’s Best 100 Hospitals for Critical Care, among the top 5% in the nation for Emergency Medicine for 2012, and among the top 10% in the nation for Pulmonary Care for 2012 by HealthGrades, Inc. Nanticoke has been named one of the Best 100 Places to Work in Healthcare by Becker’s Hospital Review for the second year in a row. Nanticoke Memorial Hospital holds a Level III trauma status and includes an interventional cardiology program and a nationally accredited and award winning stroke program. Nanticoke’s medical staff includes nearly 120 active staff physicians practicing in 37 different specialties.