NFRMC Receives Stroke Gold Award
May 18, 2011
Gainesville, FL – North Florida Regional Medical Center (NFRMC) has received the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association’s Get With The Guidelines®–Stroke Gold Quality Achievement Award. The award recognizes NFRMC’s commitment and success in implementing a higher standard of stroke care by ensuring that stroke patients receive treatment for at least 24 months according to nationally accepted standards and recommendations.
“With a stroke, time lost is brain lost, and the Get With The Guidelines–Stroke Gold Quality Achievement Award addresses the important element of time,” said Scarlott Mueller, Chief Nursing Officer at NFRMC. NFRMC has developed a comprehensive system for rapid diagnosis and treatment of stroke patients admitted to the emergency department. This includes always being equipped to provide brain imaging scans, having neurologists available to conduct patient evaluations and using clot-busting medications when appropriate.
To receive the Get With The Guidelines-Stroke Gold Quality Achievement Award, North Florida Regional Medical Center demonstrated 85 percent adherence in the Get With The Guidelines–Stroke key measures for 24 or more consecutive months. These include aggressive use of medications like tPA, antithrombotics, anticoagulation therapy, DVT prophylaxis, cholesterol-reducing drugs, and smoking cessation.
“The American Stroke Association commends North Florida Regional Medical Center for its success in implementing standards of care and protocols,” 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.
“The time is right for NFRMC to be focused on improving the quality of stroke care by continued implementation of GWTG-Stroke. 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,” said Keri Duppenthaler, Stroke Program Coordinator and Educator at NFRMC.
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.
About North Florida Regional Medical Center:
North Florida Regional Healthcare is an organization centered around the only community hospital in Gainesville, Florida -- North Florida Regional Medical Center (NFRMC). NFRMC is a 325-bed, full-service medical and surgical acute care center serving 14 counties and offering comprehensive cardiovascular care, oncology, orthopedics, neurosciences, weight loss surgery and treatment, women’s health and wound therapy, among other services. A proven leader, NFRMC is fully accredited, is certified as a Primary Stroke Center by the Joint Commission on the Accreditation of Healthcare Organization, is designated as a Blue Distinction ™ Center for Knee and Hip Replacement ,Spine Surgery and Bariatric Surgery. Recognized by HealthGrades for General Surgery care that is among the Top 10 Percent in the nation and 5-star Maternity care, North Florida Regional Medical Center is a member of Hospital Corporation of America (HCA). Based in Nashville, Tennessee, HCA remains the nation’s leading provider of healthcare services, composed of locally managed facilities that include approximately 166 hospitals and 112 outpatient centers in 20 states and England.
About Get With The Guidelines
Get With The Guidelines® is the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association’s hospital-based quality improvement program that empowers healthcare teams to save lives and reduce healthcare costs by helping hospitals follow evidence-based guidelines and recommendations. For more information, visit heart.org/quality.