Stony Brook University Medical Center Receives 2nd Consecutive AHA Award
National Honor Demonstrates Hospital’s Commitment to Quality Care for Stroke Patients
|
| On the right, Diana Barrett, CPHQ, Quality Improvement Initiatives for Long Island and New York City of the American Heart Association, presents the AHA’s “Get With The Guidelines Stroke Gold Plus Performance Achievement Award” to Stony Brook University Medical Center representatives: first row, left to right, Laura Donarummo, MD, Assistant Professor of Clinical Neurology, Stony Brook University School of Medicine; Antonieta Rosenberg, RN, MS, CNRN, Stroke Program Coordinator; Karin Fabiano, RN, Neurology Unit Clinician; Ann Marie Byers, DNP, Stroke Program Nurse Practitioner; and second row, left to right, Andrea Kabacinski, RN, Neurology and Cerebrovascular Unit Nurse Manager; Joanne Clyde, RN, Neurology/Stroke Unit Clinical Nurse Specialist and Educator; Joanna Foley, RN, Neurology Discharge Nurse; and Kimberly Fenech, RN, Stroke Unit Nurse. |
STONY BROOK, N.Y., January 20, 2012 – For the second consecutive year, Stony Brook University Medical Center has received the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association’s Get With The Guidelines® Stroke Gold Plus Performance Achievement Award.
The award recognizes Stony Brook’s commitment and success in implementing excellent care for stroke patients, according to evidence-based guidelines.
To receive the award, Stony Brook achieved of 85 percent or higher adherence to all Get With The Guidelines-Stroke Quality Achievement indicators for two or more consecutive 12-month intervals and achieved 75 percent or higher compliance with six of 10 Get With The Guidelines-Stroke Quality Measures, which are reporting initiatives to measure quality of care.
These measures include aggressive use of medications, such as tPA, antithrombotics, anticoagulation therapy, DVT prophylaxis, cholesterol reducing drugs and smoking cessation, all aimed at reducing death and disability and improving the lives of stroke patients.
“Stony Brook is to be commended for its commitment to implementing standards of care and protocols for treating stroke patients,” said Lee H. Schwamm, M.D., chair of the Get With The Guidelines National Steering Committee. “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.”
“Stony Brook is focused on improving the quality of stroke care by implementing Get With The Guidelines–Stroke,” said Candice Perkins, M.D., a dedicated stroke neurologist who serves as Co-Director for the Cerebrovascular and Stroke Center at Stony Brook. “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.”
This Stony Brook stroke initiative has been ably coordinated by Ann Marie Byers, the Stroke Program Nurse Practitioner. The Stroke Team at Stony Brook has a longstanding commitment to establish a higher standard of medical care for individuals afflicted with stroke. Members of the team include Laura Donarummo, M.D., Assistant Professor of Clinical Neurology and dedicated stroke neurologist, Michael Guido, M.D., Assistant Professor of Clinical Neurology; Oded Gerber, M.D., Associate Professor of Clinical Neurology; and Antonieta Rosenberg, RN, MS, CNRN, Stroke Program Coordinator at Stony Brook University Medical Center.
“With a stroke, time lost is brain lost,” said Patricia Coyle, M.D., Professor and Acting Chair of the Department of Neurology at Stony Brook University School of Medicine and Director of the Stony Brook Multiple Sclerosis Comprehensive Care Center. “This award demonstrates Stony Brook’s commitment to being one of the top hospitals in the country for providing aggressive, proven stroke care. We will continue with our focus on providing care that has been shown in the scientific literature to quickly and efficiently treat stroke patients with evidence-based protocols.”
“Stony Brook is focused on improving the quality of stroke care, and receiving this award for the second consecutive year is validation of our efforts,” said Henry Woo, M.D., Endovascular Neurosurgeon and Co-Director of the Cerebrovascular Center at Stony Brook. “It’s a testiment to the dedicated efforts of the entire treatment team.”
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 gives healthcare providers access to up-to-date cardiovascular and stroke science at the point of care.
According to the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association, stroke is the third leading cause of death in the United States and a leading cause of serious, long-term disability. 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.
For more information on Get With The Guidelines, visit www.americanheart.org/getwiththeguidelines.
###
About Stony Brook University Medical Center:
Stony Brook University Medical Center is Long Island’s premier academic medical center. With 597 beds, it serves as the region’s only tertiary care center and Level 1 Trauma Center, and is home to the Stony Brook University Heart Center, Cancer Center, the Stony Brook Long Island Children’s Hospital, the Institute for Advanced Neurosciences, and the Gastroenterology Program. Stony Brook provides Suffolk County’s only Level 4 Regional Perinatal Center, state-designated AIDS Center, state-designated Comprehensive Psychiatric Emergency Program, state-designated Burn Center, the Christopher Pendergast ALS Center of Excellence, and Kidney Transplant Center. It is home of the nation’s first Pediatric Multiple Sclerosis Center. To learn more, visit www.stonybrookmedicalcenter.org.
© Stony Brook University 2011
