Mercy Hospital St. Louis has received the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association’s Get With The Guidelines®-Stroke Gold 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.
Mercy St. Louis earned the award by meeting specific quality achievement measures for the diagnosis and treatment of stroke patients at a set level for a designated period. 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 should also receive education on managing their health, get a follow-up visit scheduled, as well as other care transition interventions
“At Mercy Hospital, we put a great focus on getting stroke patients treated quickly given that the quicker we treat, the better the patient’s outcome. This focus on high quality care and quick treatment times was recognized by the American Heart Association’s Get with the Guidelines-Stroke initiative, rewarding us with the Stroke Elite Plus Honor Roll Award and Stroke Advanced Therapy Honor Roll Award," said Dr. David Rempe, Mercy Hospital St. Louis Stroke Program medical director. “The tools and resources provided by the program help us track and measure our success in meeting evidenced-based clinical guidelines developed to improve patient outcomes.”
Additionally, Mercy St. Louis received the Association’s Target: StrokeSM Elite Plus Honor Roll as well as the Target: Stroke Advanced Therapy Honor Roll award. To qualify for the Elite Plus 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. To qualify for the Advanced Therapy designation, hospitals measuring Door-To-Device (DTD) times in at least 50% of applicable patients within 90 minutes for direct arriving and within 60 minutes for transfer.
“We are pleased to recognize Mercy Hospital St. Louis’ stroke team for their commitment to improving stroke care,” 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, Boston, Massachusetts. “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.”
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.
