INDIANAPOLIS – Franciscan
St. Francis Health has received the Get
With The Guidelines Stroke Silver-Plus Quality Achievement
Award for implementing specific quality improvement measures outlined by the
American Heart Association/American Stroke Association for the treatment of
stroke patients.
Get With The Guidelines—Stroke helps
hospitals to provide the most up-to-date, research-based guidelines with the
goal of speeding recovery and reducing death and disability for stroke
patients. The hospital’s neurology
and neurosurgery teams earned the
award by meeting specific quality achievement measures for the rapid
diagnosis and treatment of stroke patients at a set level for a designated period.
These measures include aggressive use
of medications and risk-reduction therapies aimed at reducing
death and disability and improving the lives of stroke patients.
“We are dedicated to improving the
quality of stroke care and The American Heart Association/American Stroke
Association’s Get With The Guidelines–Stroke
award helps us achieve that goal,” said Chris DiGiusto,
Neuroscience Service Line Leader at Franciscan St. Francis Health. “This award recognizes
our commitment to ensure that our patients receive care based on
internationally respected clinical guidelines.”
“We are pleased to recognize Franciscan St.
Francis for its commitment and dedication to stroke care,” said Deepak L.
Bhatt, MD, MPH, national chairman of the Get With The Guidelines steering
committee and executive director of Interventional Cardiovascular Programs at
Brigham and Women's Hospital and professor of medicine at Harvard Medical
School.
Get With The Guidelines–Stroke also helps Franciscan St.
Francis’ staff implement prevention measures, which include educating stroke
patients to manage their risk factors, and to be aware of warning signs for
stroke, and ensuring they take their medications properly. Hospitals can make
customized patient education materials available upon discharge, based on the
patients’ individual risk profiles. The take-away materials are written in an
easy-to-understand format in either English or Spanish.
According to the American Heart Association/American Stroke
Association, stroke is the
number four cause of death and a leading cause of adult 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.
