American Heart Association recognizes Garfield Medical Center’s commitment
to quality stroke care
GARFIELD MEDICAL CENTER received the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association’s
Get With The Guidelines®-Stroke Gold Plus Quality Achievement Award with Target: StrokeSM Honor Roll Elite. The award recognizes the hospital’s commitment
to providing the most appropriate stroke treatment according to nationally
recognized, research-based guidelines based on the latest scientific evidence.
Hospitals must achieve 85 percent or higher adherence to all Get With The
Guidelines-Stroke achievement indicators for two or more consecutive 12-month
periods and achieve 75 percent or higher compliance with five of eight
Get With The Guidelines-Stroke Quality measures to receive the Gold Plus
Quality Achievement Award.
To qualify for the Target: Stroke Honor Roll Elite, hospitals must meet
quality measures developed to reduce the time between the patient’s
arrival at the hospital and treatment with the clot-buster tissue plasminogen
activator, ortPA, the only drug approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to treat
ischemic stroke. If given intravenously in the first three hours after the start of stroke
symptoms, tPA has been shown to significantly reduce the effects of stroke
and lessen the chance of permanent disability. Garfield Medical Center
earned the award by meeting specific quality achievement measures for
the diagnosis and treatment of stroke patients at a set level for a designated period.
These quality measures are designed to help hospital teams follow the most
up-to-date, evidence-based guidelines with the goal of speeding recovery
and reducing death and disability for stroke patients.
As we continue to strive for excellence in the acute treatment of stroke
patients. The recognition from the American Heart Association/American
Stroke Association’s Get With The Guidelines-Stroke further reinforces
our team’s hard work.