LMH receives Get With The Guidelines Stroke Gold Plus Quality Achievement Award
Lawrence Memorial Hospital has received the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association’s Get With The Guidelines®-Stroke Gold Plus Quality Achievement Award. The award recognizes the hospital’s commitment to ensuring stroke patients receive the most appropriate treatment according to nationally recognized, research-based guidelines based on the latest scientific evidence.
Lawrence Memorial Hospital 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 measures include evaluation of the proper use of medications and other stroke treatments aligned with the most up-to-date, evidence-based guidelines. The goal is to speed recovery and reduce death and disability for stroke patients.
“Lawrence Memorial Hospital is dedicated to improving the quality of care for our stroke patients by implementing the American Heart Association’s Get With The Guidelines-Stroke initiative,” said Russ Johnson, president & CEO. “The tools and resources provided help us track and measure our success in meeting evidenced-based clinical guidelines developed to improve patient outcomes.”
The Advanced Primary Stroke Center at Lawrence Memorial Hospital is staffed by qualified medical professionals who are well trained in stroke care and who individualize that care to meet the needs of their patients. Stroke patients at Lawrence Memorial Hospital can utilize the Center for Rehabilitation to facilitate their safe return to daily activities, and can attend a regular support group. Patients, friends and family are able to attend the monthly support meetings at the hospital every third Tuesday at 4:00 PM.
Lawrence Memorial Hospital additionally received the association’s Target: Stroke Honor Roll Elite Plus Award. To qualify for this recognition, 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, or tPA, the only drug approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to treat ischemic stroke.
“We are pleased to recognize Lawrence Memorial Hospital for their commitment to stroke care,” said Eric E. Smith, M.D., national chairman of the Get With The Guidelines Steering Committee and an associate professor of neurology at the University of Calgary in Alberta, Canada. “Research has shown that hospitals adhering to clinical measures through the Get With The Guidelines quality improvement initiative can often see fewer readmissions and lower mortality rates.”
According to the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association, stroke is the No. 5 cause of death and a leading cause of adult disability in the United States. On average, someone in the United States suffers a stroke every 40 seconds, and nearly 795,000 people suffer a new or recurrent stroke each year. In Douglas County, stroke was the 4th leading cause of death for adults age 65-84 from 2010 to 2015 according to the Douglas County Health Department, and 31 people died from stroke in 2016.
In 2017, Lawrence Memorial Hospital provided inpatient care for 163 individuals who experienced a stroke.
