07/28/2010

WDH receives Silver Plus Performance Achievement Award for Quality Stroke Care

Wentworth-Douglass Hospital received the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association’s Get With The Guidelines® Stroke Silver Plus Performance Achievement Award in recognition of the Hospital’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.

To receive the Award, Wentworth-Douglass Hospital achieved at least 12 consecutive months of 85 percent or higher adherence to all Get With The Guidelines Stroke Performance Achievement indicators and achieved a 75 percent or higher compliance with six of 10 Get With The Guidelines Stroke Quality Measures during that same period of time, 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.

Dr. Paul Cass, CMO, Chairman of the WDH Stroke Committee, thanked the team and stroke care coordinators Cindy Spencer, RN and Nicole Conners, RN for their hard work, enthusiasm and consistent effort to improve care for stroke patients. “With a stroke, time lost is brain lost, and this Award,” Dr. Cass said, “demonstrates that our staff is committed to providing care that has been shown in the scientific literature to quickly and efficiently treat stroke patients with evidence-based protocols. It also demonstrates the value of our relationship with Massachusetts General Hospital and the TeleStroke system connecting WDH with MGH for certain critical stroke patients.”

Dr. Lee Schwamm, MD, chair of the Get with the Guidelines National Steering Committee and Director of the TeleStroke and Actue Stroke Services at Massachusetts General Hospital concurs with Dr. Cass’s program assessment. “Wentworth-Douglass Hospital is to be commended for its commitment to implementing standards of care and protocols for treating stroke patients,” said Dr. Schwamm. “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.”

WDH neurologist Gary Usher, MD, Coastal Neurology Services, thanked all staff involved in the care of patients with stroke. “It’s really a great team effort and it’s making a difference in our ability to quickly responding to stroke patients,” he said. 

Stroke core team member Ann Lak, Nurse Director of the Emergency Department at WDH said the program is focused on the best possible patient care. “The stroke success story is an excellent example of the extraordinary care provided at WDH,” Lak said.

The number of acute ischemic stroke patients eligible for treatment is expected to grow over the next decade due to increasing stroke incidence and a large aging population. According to the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association; stroke is the third leading cause of death in the United States and a leading cause of serious, long-term disability. On average, someone suffers a stroke every 45 seconds; someone dies of a stroke every three minutes; and 795,000 people suffer a new or recurrent stroke each year.