Stroke Recognition for Outstanding Stroke Care Awarded to Phelps

Award demonstrates Phelps' Commitment to Quality Care for Stroke Patients

The American Stroke Association recently awarded Phelps Memorial Hospital Center the "Gold Plus" Performance Achievement Award for outstanding stroke care. The award recognizes the hospital's success in providing a high level of stroke care by ensuring that patients receive treatment according to nationally accepted standards and recommendations.

To earn the award, Phelps achieved of 85 percent or higher adherence to all Get With The Guidelines-Stroke Performance 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.

"With a stroke, time lost is brain lost, and the Get With The Guidelines-Stroke Gold Plus Performance Achievement Award demonstrates Phelps' commitment to being one of the top hospitals in the country for providing aggressive, proven stroke care," said Dr. Sanda Carniciu, Physician Director of the Stroke Center at Phelps. "We will continue to focus on providing care that has been shown in the scientific literature to quickly and efficiently treat stroke patients with evidence-based protocols."

"I am so proud of our dedicated nurses who have made this award possible, as well as staff of the Emergency Department, the Intensive Care Unit, the Stroke Unit, the Inpatient Physical Rehabilitation Unit and everyone else at Phelps involved in making this a success," said Dr. Carniciu.

In addition to Dr. Carniciu, the Stroke Team is comprised of the hospital's medical director, the Emergency Department medical director and nurses, quality assurance staff, non-ED nursing staff, physical, occupational and speech rehabilitation therapists, and radiologists and hospitalists.

As a Stroke Center, Phelps has developed a comprehensive system for rapid diagnosis and treatment of stroke patients admitted to the Emergency Department. This includes always being equipped to provide brain imaging scans, having neurologists available to conduct patient evaluations and, when appropriate, the aggressive use of medications like tPA, antithrombotics, and anticoagulation therapy, DVT prophylaxis, cholesterol-reducing drugs and smoking cessation counseling.

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.

"The time is right for Phelps to be focused on improving the quality of stroke care by implementing Get With The Guidelines-Stroke. 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," said Dr. Carniciu.

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 45 seconds; someone dies of a stroke every three minutes; and 795,000 people suffer a new or recurrent stroke each year.

"The American Stroke Association commends Phelps Hospital for its success in implementing standards of care and protocols," said Lee H. Schwamm, MD, national GWTG steering committee member and director of the acute stroke services at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. "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."

To contact the Stroke Center at Phelps, call 914-366-3397. For more information on Get With The Guidelines, visit www.americanheart.org/getwiththeguidelines.

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