Bayhealth recently received two awards that recognize its commitment to ensuring stroke patients get the most appropriate treatment according to nationally recognized guidelines based on the latest scientific evidence. Patient benefits associated with these guidelines include lower risk of death and disability.
Bayhealth Hospital, Kent Campus and Bayhealth Milford Memorial each received the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association’s Get With The Guidelines®-Stroke Silver Plus Quality Achievement Award. Both Bayhealth hospitals 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. The 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.
“Bayhealth is driven to improve the quality of care for our stroke patients by implementing the American Heart Association’s Get With The Guidelines-Stroke initiative,” said Bayhealth Stroke Medical Director Sumeet S. Multani, MD, MBBS.
Bayhealth Hospital, Kent Campus also received the association’s Target: Stroke Honor Roll 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 Bayhealth for their commitment to stroke care,” said Eric E. Smith, MD, national chairman of the Get With The Guidelines Steering Committee. “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.”
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. Visit Bayhealth.org/Stroke to learn more about stroke care.
