Penn Medicine Princeton Medical Center (PMC) has received the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association’s Get With The Guidelines-Stroke Silver Plus Quality Achievement Award, recognizing the hospital’s commitment to adhere to the latest evidence-based guidelines for diagnosing and treating stroke patients.
According to the AHA/ASA, stroke is the No. 5 cause of death and a leading cause of adult disability in the United States. On average, someone in the U.S. suffers a stroke every 40 seconds. Nearly 795,000 people suffer a new or recurrent stroke each year.
Get With The Guidelines is a hospital-based program that provides tools and resources to hospitals to improve quality of care and outcomes for stroke patients.
PMC demonstrated 85 percent or greater compliance with seven targeted achievement measures for one calendar year to achieve the Silver Award, as well as 75 percent or greater compliance with at least five of eight stroke quality measures during that same 12-month period to achieve the Plus Award.
These evidence-based guideline measures relate to critical areas such as administering appropriate medications in a timely manner and providing patient/caregiver education or counseling.
“The Silver Plus Award represents the collective efforts of our stroke committee, physicians, nurses and therapists who have dedicated themselves to the care of stroke patients,” said Philip Tran, RN, stroke coordinator. “Such an achievement is only attained through teamwork and collaboration.”
The stroke committee — a multidisciplinary team that includes physicians, nurses, pharmacists, physical and occupational therapists and leadership — is dedicated to the continual improvement of the stroke program.
