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 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, 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, 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, assistant professor of clinical neurology and dedicated stroke neurologist, Michael Guido, assistant professor of clinical neurology; Oded Gerber, associate professor of clinical neurology; and Antonieta Rosenberg, Stroke Program coordinator.
“With a stroke, time lost is brain lost,” said Patricia Coyle, professor and acting chair of the Department of Neurology 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, 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.”
For more information on Get With The Guidelines, visit www.americanheart.org/getwiththeguidelines.
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