Mon, May 14, 2018 at 10:28 PM

Marshall Medical receives two American Heart Association awards
 for stroke treatment

Awards recognize Marshall Medical’s commitment to quality stroke care.

Marshall Medical has received the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association’s Get With The Guidelines®-Stroke Silver Plus Quality Achievement Award. The 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.

Marshall Medical earned the award by meeting specific quality achievement measures for the diagnosis and treatment of stroke patients at a set level for 2017. 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 also receive education on managing their health and get a follow-up visit scheduled.

“Marshall Medical Centers is dedicated to improving the quality of care for our stroke patients by implementing the American Heart Association’s Get With The Guidelines-Stroke initiative,” said Teresa Guess, Vice-President of Quality. “The tools and resources provided help us track and measure our success in meeting evidenced-based clinical guidelines developed to improve patient outcomes.” 

Marshall Medical additionally received the association’s Bronze 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.

“We are pleased to recognize Marshall Medical Centers for their commitment to stroke care,” said Eric E. Smith, M.D., national chairman of the Get With The Guidelines Steering Committee and an associate professor of neurology at the University of Calgary in Alberta, Canada. “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.”

Ken Atchison, Stroke Coordinator for Marshall Medical, explained how the hospitals care for stroke patients, which led to the commendation.

“We were awarded Silver Plus due to Marshall Medical’s commitment to scientifically, research-based medicine treatments during 2017,” Atchison said. “We incorporated medical treatments for stroke care to reduce death and disability. These are based on AHA guidelines. We expeditiously treat qualified stroke patients with a medication to breakdown the clot affecting parts of the brain in our emergency rooms. Stroke care doesn’t end there. The patients are thoroughly tested to rule out causes and/or abnormalities while in the hospital. They are discharged with medications to decrease the incidence of recurrent strokes.” 

According to the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association, stroke is the No. 5 cause of death and a leading cause 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.
  
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About Get With The Guidelines®

Get With The Guidelines® is the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association’s hospital-based quality improvement program that provides hospitals with tools and resources to increase adherence to the latest research-based guidelines. Developed with the goal of saving lives and hastening recovery, Get With The Guidelines has touched the lives of more than 6 million patients since 2001. For more information, visit heart.org.