Milford Regional Receives Award For Care and Treatment of Stroke Patients
Milford Regional Medical Center has been recognized by the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association for its commitment and success in treating stroke patients, as well as meeting specific guidelines as a Primary Stroke Center.
The American Heart Association/American Stroke Association’s Get With the Guidelines®- Stroke Gold Plus Quality Achievement Award has been given to Milford Regional in recognition of the hospital’s adherence to all Get With the Guidelines-Stroke achievement indicators and quality measures. As a Primary Stroke Center, the hospital has a comprehensive system for rapidly diagnosing and treating stroke patients.
“With a stroke, time lost is brain lost, and this award demonstrates our commitment to ensuring patients receive care based on nationally-respected clinical guidelines,” said Dr. Jeffrey Hopkins, chair of the Department of Emergency Medicine at Milford Regional. “Milford Regional is dedicated to improving the quality of stroke care and the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association’s Get With the Guidelines - Stroke helps us achieve that goal.”
Get With the Guidelines is the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association’s hospital-based quality improvement program that provides hospitals with the latest research-based guidelines.
In order to achieve the award, Milford Regional had to achieve 85 percent or higher adherence to all Get With the Guidelines – Stroke achievement indicators for two or more 12-month periods, and had to achieve 75 percent or higher compliance with five of the eight Get With the Guidelines – Stroke quality measures.
The quality measures are designed to help hospital teams provide the most up-to-date, evidence-based guidelines with the goal of speeding recover and reducing death and disability for stroke patients. The quality measures focus on appropriate use of guideline-based care for stroke patients, including aggressive use of medications such as clot-busting and anti-clotting drugs, blood thinners and cholesterol reducing drugs, preventative action for deep vein thrombosis and smoke cessation counseling.
Stroke is the number five cause of death and a leading cause of adult disability in the United States, according to the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association. 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.
“We are pleased to recognize Milford Regional for their commitment to stroke care,” said Dr. Deepak L. Bhatt, national chairman of the Get With the Guidelines Steering Committee , executive director of the Interventional Cardiovascular Programs at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. “Studies have shown that hospitals that consistently follow Get with the Guidelines quality improvement measures can reduce length of stay and 30-day readmission rates, and reduce disparities in care.”
