Ridley Park, Pa--Recently, Taylor Hospital received the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association’s Get with the Guidelines (GWTG) Bronze Performance Achievement Award. The award is a result of the staff’s hard work and dedication to ensuring that stroke patients receive the best quality treatment that is up-to-date with nationally accepted standards and recommendations.

The GWTG-Stroke Initial Award recognizes 90 consecutive days of consistently following the treatment guidelines set by the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association. To be recognized and uphold the award, honored hospitals must have at least 85 percent compliance in each of the seven core GTWG-Stroke measures. These measures include certain treatment guidelines and the aggressive use of the recommended medications for stroke patients within a particular allotment of time. In honor of this award, Taylor was listed in a GWTG US NEWS and World Report ad that ran in July 2008 for taking part in this program.

Suzanne Jenkins, stroke coordinator for Taylor Hospital, helped put together a multidisciplinary team of clinicians who interact regularly with stroke patients, and a committee of representatives from the various departments involved in stroke patient care. A vast amount of work went into making this project a success. “It is not only about educating the staff on GWTG-Stroke but actually doing it,” Jenkins says. Jenkins and her team are committed to improving the outcome for all stroke patients.

Taylor implemented a system for rapid diagnosis and treatment of stroke patients admitted to the emergency department and according to GWTG, this includes always being equipped to provide brain imaging scans, having neurologists on-call 24/7 for patient evaluations, and using clot-busting medications when necessary. The team implemented two stroke units, which at Taylor are 3 West and the ICU. They continuously make sure that the staff is aware and up-to-date on the stroke care guidelines and help to develop physician order sets that contain best practices for patient care.

Another essential measure is making sure the nursing staff and other clinicians can evaluate patients’ swallowing capability. If a patient has difficulty swallowing (dysphagia), they may suffer from the primary stroke complication, aspiration pneumonia, as well as have problems receiving adequate nutrition or hydration, which can account for a longer recovery period. Besides keeping the staff aware, GWTG requires physicians to make sure patients are able to manage their personal risk factors in order to reduce the risk of a subsequent stroke. Upon discharge, patients should receive customized education materials based on their individual risk profiles.

Calvin Stafford M.D., chief of the Section of Neurology at Taylor Hospital, claims that for the patients this award means confidence that stroke care at Taylor Hospital meets or exceeds national standards. “Strokes are devastating,” Stafford says. They are a leading killer and the leading cause of chronic disability. While this program is not a cure, we see improved function for [Taylor’s] stroke patients.” According to Stafford and the rest of the stroke team, this program, when fully implemented, will help improve survival rates and functional outcomes for stroke patients, which is the program’s goal. Gregory Cuculino, M.D., chairman of the Department of Emergency Medicine at Taylor and the co-director of the stroke program, says, “This award will benefit the hospital by demonstrating the excellent care and dedication we give to our stroke patients and the community. For patients, it will show that we deliver state-of-the-art care to maximize the prevention of, treatment for, and ultimately, the recovery from a stroke.”

The next level for Taylor is the Silver (Annual) Performance Achievement Award. They will achieve this if the stroke unit continues to follow treatment guidelines developed by the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association and the American College of Cardiology in certain key measures at least 85 percent of the time for one year. There are three different levels of the Performance Achievement Awards that reflect the amount of time that a hospital demonstrates compliance performance: Bronze (Initial), recognized for 90 consecutive days; Silver (Annual), recognized for 12 consecutive months; and Gold (Sustained), recognized for 24 consecutive months. Hospitals, physicians, nurses, and other health care providers who use Get With The Guidelines are armed with the latest evidence-based guidelines and immediate access to clinical support. Clinicians and patients are assured that treatment is aligned with the best-practice medicine and is therefore likely to produce improved patient outcomes.

Taylor Hospital is the only hospital in the Crozer-Keystone Health System to receive an honor from the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association’s GWTG program, and will continue to strive to reach higher levels in the program. Currently, Taylor Hospital is beginning the process of applying for Primary Stroke Center Certification via The Joint Commission. If Taylor is approved they will be the second Crozer-Keystone Hospital to be stroke-certified. DCMH was awarded certification in June of this year, and became one of only 400 hospitals nationwide to achieve such an elite status.

GWTG is an evidence-based program aimed at in-hospital quality improvement. It places the expertise of the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association to work for hospitals, ensuring that the care the hospital provides to coronary artery disease, stroke, and heart failure patients is up-to-date with the latest scientific guidelines. (www.americanheart.org)