Valley Medical Center has earned the 2018 Get With The Guidelines® – Stroke Gold Plus Quality Achievement Award and also qualified for recognition on the Target: Stroke Elite Plus Honor Roll. This award recognizes Valley’s commitment and success in implementing a high standard of stroke care by ensuring that our stroke patients receive treatment that meets nationally accepted, evidence-based standards and recommendations. This is the American Heart Association and American Stroke Association’s highest honor for stroke care.
What does this mean for our patients?
The faster we move, the better our patients’ chances of moving later because successful treatment of acute ischemic stroke is all about time. The quicker acute ischemic stroke can be diagnosed and TPA can be administered, the less chance of severe, permanent disability.
Valley’s community education efforts reap rewards
Mike Previti, MD is Valley’s Stroke Center Medical Director whose community efforts to get patients in quickly for treatment include educating about how to recognize and react to stroke symptoms and working with local first responders and emergency dispatch to help identify stroke on the front end. Valley employees also recently volunteered at the Strike Out Stroke event at the Mariner’s ballgame on May 19 to help the public learn about recognizing stroke symptoms and acting FAST.
Here’s how fast we roll at Valley to qualify for American Heart Association |American Stroke Association’s highest honor for stroke care:
- Time to thrombolytic therapy within 60 minutes in 75 percent or more of acute ischemic stroke patients treated with IV tPA
- Time to thrombolytic therapy within 45 minutes in 50 percent of acute ischemic stroke patients treated with IV tPA (current criteria and same volume thresholds)
In addition to receiving stroke treatment aligned with the most up-to-date, evidence-based guidelines with the goal of speeding recovery and reducing death and disability, Valley patients also receive education on managing their health, getting a follow-up visit scheduled, as well as other care transition interventions.
Thanks to all those at Valley for their efforts in achieving this high national honor in stroke treatment and for all those who care for our patients after they rehabilitate following stroke.
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.
